Poison: A New Lead
by Whisper5150
Summary: When Ben is sucked into a world of his fantasy on vacation in Florida, he is beyond excited. However, he soon realizes that being a unique dragon doesn't always have perks. Read on to learn that being a hero can be a two sided coin.
1. Acidic Trip

**Alright, now that I have had my practice rounds with my last stories, I can really attempt to good. A new story, and about one of my favorite games of all time. I've wanted to write this story for so long, thanks to my personal idol, and now I can. Time to journey to the Dragon Realms on an Acidic Trip.**

 **I'm planning on make references to other stories I like from other Authors. See if you all can notice any of them.  
**

Ben groaned as he walked into his family's rented house, rubbing both his sore legs and his full stomach. He was on a vacation to Florida with his parents, and the buffets here were so much crazier than the ones in Arizona.

His family was still sitting at the noisy place, probably expecting him to come out of the bathroom he bailed on them in. But they wanted him to eat more! What were they, crazy?!

He flopped onto the rented cabin's couch and searched for the remote. Eventually he find it and flips on the tv to one of the many old kids shows still on Boomerang.

He snickered at the old animations and turns down the tv and pulled out his phone. "Sorry Mom." He reads aloud as he texts. "I was stuffed to the brim, yet you demanded your money's worth. You have heard that the "money's worth" of a buffet is the WHOLE BUFFET, right?! Anyway, don't worry, I'm safe and sound in the safety of the cabin, and I am awaiting your return. Love you."

Snickering once more, he quickly put his phone to silent, slides it into his green sweatpants pocket, and then rolled over, burying his head under a pillow and tried to fall asleep.

The house groaning loudly brought Ben back to the land of the awake. Jumping to his feet, he looked around.

The house creaked and groaned again, and what sounded like sand rushing down a hillside crept out from beneath the house. Ben put his ear to the floor and listened carefully, but the noise quickly stopped as soon as it started.

"Was that an earthquake?" He said to the tv, believing that the hidden camera the government put into the screen would somehow answer. "What was that thing that people warned about in Florida… Aw, well. It seems to be over now. To the cookie jar!" Laughing at his own fear and childishness alike, he walked into the kitchen and grabbed a couple raisin cookies from the jar.

"Oh, and yes, I am one of those weirdoes who enjoy raisins." He says to the tv again. "Though, knowing you, you probably would have known that already. Hehe."

He flopped back onto the couch and munched on the final cookie, his racing heart finally calming. But as soon as he assumes the worst is over, the shaking begins again, this time worse.

Terrified, he grips the couch as the entire floor cracks and opens like a gaping maw, revealing a hole deep into the earth, dark and foreboding.

 _Sinkhole._ Ben gasps as the hole grows larger, swallowing the posts holding up the cabin and tilting it suddenly. He grips the couch tighter, but it begins to tilt as well, sliding toward the edge which is swallowing the house. He screams as he falls into the dark abyss, the couch under him.

He groans as the landing takes his breath away and he looks back up at hole, looking at the light streaming in from it and waiting for something to help.

Ben groans and watches wide eyed as the chandelier directly above the hole makes ominous noises, cracks forming along the roof and spiraling toward it.

Ben screams as the chandelier snaps off the roof, plummeting toward the hole. He backs into the wall quickly and covers his face.

Like a guardian angel struck it down, the wall he is leaning on collapses behind him, sending him rolling and falling down deeper into the earth. The chandelier crashes behind him, shattering and sending glass shards everywhere around him. Some followed him down the new tunnel, yet none pierce his skin or land under him.

He lands suddenly on flat ground directly on his back, his surroundings entirely dark. The house continues to groan through the hole, but it sounds far away to Ben.

Groggily, Ben lifts his head and tries to stare through the darkness around him. The cavern floor had scattered shard of glass that glinted slightly in the small amount of light. Carefully, he stepped over them and toward a small side cave.

Through the cavern Ben could barely hear water dripping from the roof into a pool below. He reaches forward carefully, feeling the wall for directions as his shoes suddenly enter water.

He jumps back and squints into the darkness, trying to see the water. He crouchs down, feeling for the water that had just bled through his shoe.

Suddenly his hand grazes the liquid and an overwhelming dryness in his throat suddenly grips him. Throwing caution to the wind, he reaches down and takes a big gulp. It tastes like salted caramel; sweet and salty and delicious. Without a second thought, he takes two more big, long gulps.

The dryness gone, drowsiness replaces it and Ben yawns, sitting back against a smooth rock wall. His eyelids droop and close slowly, his breathing becomes steady and his heart calms. The water dripping from above becomes a soothing lullaby that lulls him deeper and deeper, further and further into a death-like slumber.

Ben wakes up slowly, his head pounding hard and his throat dry once more. Groaning loudly, he opens his eyes and than groans again at the sudden influx of sunlight on his pupils.

Wait, sunlight? Surprised, Ben blinks his eyes open again and stares up at the open sky. He scrambles to his hands and knees and looks around.

No longer is he lying in a cave under Florida. Now, he seems to be in a fertile, untouched forest. On his left, a small pool collects dripping rain water from a recent storm. In all other directions there is nothing but leafy, beautiful plants.

Carefully, Ben puts his hands down on the ground and goes to lift himself to his feet when something stops him instantly. The sight of his skin.

Gone now was the pasty white skin of a boy who spent his time in bed gaming his life away. Now his hands are green like a moss and covered in shield like scales. Each hand ends in a talon at least half an inch long and sharp as can be.

He screams and stands up quickly, only to realize his feet have changed as well, making it impossible to stand on two legs. With another cry, he falls backward, landing hard on a new appendage out of his back.

Ben looks back at his new tail, thrashing underneath him like a trapped animal. It is the longest tail he had ever seen, as long and thin as the Xenomorph's tail. It ends with a strange, incredibly thin point at the tip of his tail that seems to be retractable, though try as he might, he doesn't have enough know how to figure out how to accomplish such a task. Noticeably, the blade is light green, lighter than his other scales. As he looks back, he also notices his back has sprouted large wings, the same color as the blade on his tail.

"I'm." He looks over his other shoulder and sees the same on his right side. "I'm a dragon?" He carefully walks to the pool's edge and lies down, staring at his new reflection.

A dragon's face stares back at him with the same dark green scales that are on his back and paws. Speckled along his snout are dark blue scales, almost like freckles. Unlike most dragons he has seen, he doesn't have any identifiable horns on his head at all, but instead there are two noticeable ridges of scales where they would be. The only part of him that stayed the same from his transformation is his brown eyes.

Ben walks back away from the pool and sits down, looking at his front paws. "I'm a dragon." He says again, and then laughs and rolls onto his back. "I'm a Dragon!" He cheers happily.

After a few more minutes to let it sink in, he stands up and looks around. Seeing smoke in the distance, he walks slowly toward it, wary of his new body's strange actions, like the way his wings keep getting snagged in everything. Sighing slightly, he has to stop every time it happened to keep the sensitive tissue from tearing. Slowly, he gets closer to the source of the smoke.

Shakily, he staggers out of the forest and finally views his goal. The city ahead of him has giant walls blocking most of the view, but what he did see was amazing.

A city filled with dragons! Dragons on the walls in armor, dragons talking to others on the roofs, even one couple who had their tails entwined and were making out like there was no tomorrow.

Ben took a good six minutes to stare at the walls before a sudden shout startled him out of it. "Hey!" A dragoness with white scales and silver armor runs up to him, her four horns curved backward toward her wings. "What do you think you are doing? All new students must be inside to hop on the carriages to the temple before classes start."

"Classes? Temple? What?" Ben asks, confused beyond belief that this dragon speaks english, let alone what in the world she was talking about. Summer vacation still has four weeks, for pity's sake!

"The temple outside of the city! Now get going! Do you need an escort or something?" The dragoness asks impatiently.

"Ummm… Yeah." Ben just decides to roll with it. "Yeah, I am new here… My parents told me I needed to go to school and said I should come here. Can I please get an escort?"

She sighs and turns around. "Roge! Give this kid an escort!" The spoken too dragon nods and goes inside the city, waving his tail for Ben to follow.

' _I'm not a kid.'_ Ben wants to shout, but just decides against it and follows the dragon through crowded streets and amazing sights until they reach a long line of carriages.

Ben watches the guard go before dropping the act and staring in wonder at all the dragons, drinking the sights in. Besides the line of dragons next to the line of carriages, he also got a chance to view the amazing sights of the city. Dragons, acting like humans all around, albeit medieval ones.

Suddenly a very old looking dragon shouted "All aboard!" From the front of the carriage line and the dragons started piling into the carriages. After a quick laugh at the feeling of climbing into a magical train to Hogwarts, Ben too climbed into a carriage far at the back, with only one other resident.

A dragoness that seemed to be his age sat across from him, her scales grey and eight tiny horns sticking out of her head. There is a small tailblade that looks like a sword point at the end of her tail. Trying to be polite, Ben says "Hello."

"Hi." She says roughly, continuing to stare forlornly out the window.

After a few seconds of silence, Ben tries again. "Nice weather, considering the time."

"I suppose." She answers.

Ben sighs. "Some people just aren't conversationalists, Ben." He says aloud. "You gotta realize that."

The dragoness sighs back. "My parents just threw me out of the house because they hate me and are drunk and only care about sex and now I have to live with my aunt in the temple for the rest of my school life. So forgive me if I am not in a conversational mood."

Ben whimpers. "I'm sorry. I didn't know… Hey, why don't we swap names? I'll go first if you want." She doesn't move. "Okay, my name is Ben. Ben Relic."

She looks at him. "Why do you have two names?"

"Ummm… Cause." He smiles at her.

She sighs again and goes back to looking out the window. "My name is Cloud. And I don't appreciate being lied to." She glares at him for a moment, then the carriages start moving and she goes back to looking outside.

"Well maybe the reason why I have two names is because my family is not from around here, hm?" Ben keeps on smiling to her, and when she looks back and notices, she just scoffs.

"Which, to be honest, I am really not from around here. I'm from very, very far away. And that is no lie." Ben stops smiling as he realizes just how far away he is… Possibly even in another dimension!

"Must be great." Cloud says. "After all, even after one hundred and twenty-six years, people are still trying to recover from the war here."

Ben nods as if he understands and looks out the window with her. "People seem to be recovering well. Look, there are children and lovers and everything a city can ask for."

Cloud laughs. "If only I had your view. Maybe I wouldn't be so depressed."

Ben laughs with her. "Don't worry, I'm sure I can help you see my way." He gets up and sits next to her, making her scoot closer to the window. "So, how far is this Temple place?"

Cloud finally turns and fully looks at him, even if it is a look of utter shock. "Haven't you been there before? Everyone has been there when they are old enough!"

Ben just shrugs again. "I'm not from around here, remember. So tell me, what are the teachers like?"

Cloud looks at him as if he just evolved into a hydra. "Teachers?! You mean the guardians, the undisputed rulers of our society!?"

Ben nods. "Yeah, sure, them."

Cloud sighs. "The guardians are fine. But you know how it is, someone tries to do you good and you don't want the good so you resent them for it."

"Yep, I know that feeling alright. I once disobeyed a direct order from my mom because I was angry at her and I regretted it for the rest of the month.

"Why? What did you do?"

Ben snorts a laugh out, then looks down in shame. "I might have stuck my h-... Tail in a fire ant nest."

Cloud immediately busts out laughing so hard she falls to the carriage floor. "It wasn't that funny!" Ben says as he laughs with her, but she keeps on laughing.

After a good long laugh together, she picks herself up carefully in the carriage and smiles at him. "Alright, you got me. I'm not as sad anymore."

Ben smiles back at her. "Glad to hear it Cloud. So, mind answering some more questions?"

"What else could you need to know?" Cloud smiles wider. "You seem to be quite smart already."

"Ha. Ha." Ben says back, smiling too. "No I wanted to ask where I am. And what I am."

Cloud stops smiling again. "Have you been living under a rock your whole life? You're in the dragon realms, more specifically the Dragon City Warfang. And you are a Dragon, stupid. Poison most likely, with all that green and no brown."

Ben nods. "Okay… Thanks." He then goes lets her go back to staring out the window as he goes deep into thought himself.

 _I'm in another world. I'm a dragon. Possible dream. But if this is true, and all of this is real, then my prayers have been answered and my wishes granted! I am definitely sticking around here._

His mind made up quickly, he looks back at Cloud. Licking his lips (and realizing even his tongue has changed) he says "You know, you're very cute." He stops himself before he can say "For a dragon."

Cloud immediately whips around and glares at him. "I am Not Interested." She punctuates the sentence with a menacing growl.

Ben smiles anyway. "Are you freaking drunk?" She asks him. "Why are you constantly smiling? What in the world could make you so happy that you're just able to smile and smile and smile!?"

Ben laughs. "I always smile when I am around true beauty." That comment gets him a slap on the back of the head with her tail. He whimpers.

She just growls one final time before looking back out the window to the trees on either side of the road. "I'm really not interested in a relationship right now. Especially not with someone who is just so... Happy."

"Well obviously you do need someone happy to balance yourself out." Ben retorts playfully. "And that's okay if you don't want a relationship. We can just be friends."

Cloud sighs. "Fine. Whatever."

A few hours later, the carriage train arrives in a mushroom forest and at an ancient looking building. The other dragons climb out of the carriages and walk up the steps, but Ben climbs out carefully and lets his jaw hit the floor in awe.

"This place is huge Cloud!" He says to his new friend, turning to help her out of the carriage like a true gentleman.

She snorts and slaps his paw away. "Of course it is huge. It has to be to hold all the dragons old enough to come here." She then follows the line of other dragons walking up the stairs with Ben right behind her.

"Welcome students!" A big, deep booming voice calls from the front door, startling Ben out of looking around and instead looking up at the red dragon with a ram's curved, black horns at the top of the stairs. His eyes are a piercing red and his tail blade is an arrow's tip. Uniquely, his wings have small black spikes on the ends.

"My name, as many of you may know, is Damean. And I am the Fear Dragon guardian here at temple, in charge of breath training and history." He says, overlooking the students proudly. "This shall be your new home for the next four years as you learn everything you will need to know about dragons and their way of life. Although." He looks over the crowd again, this time with a smirk. "Most of you should know how life works, since I hope you are among the living."

The crowd does the normal chuckle that accompanies a teacher's joke, and Damean continues. "Follow me and we shall show you around the temple. It's not too big so you shouldn't have too much of a problem navigating it." And with that he turns and walks into the temple, followed by the whole crowd of one hundred plus dragons.

"Not too big, he says." Ben mutters to Cloud, who giggles in return.

"Some of you will have to bunk with others, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem." He shouts over the crowd's shuffling and murmuring to make sure he is heard.

Ben looks at Cloud. "Are the dorms nice?" He asks.

"They're nice enough." A female voice says behind him and he whips around to see a large grey scaled dragoness with four horns in a similar design to Cloud's. There is no tail blade at the end of her tail either, just like Cloud, however her wing span is massive. "I don't think I have met you before, though you seem to have made friends with my niece. I am Gale, the wind dragon guardian in charge of art classes. I expect that y-"

Ben suddenly lets loose a loud, annoyed groan. Cloud slaps him in the back of the head again and he sighs. "Sorry. I just didn't know there was an Art class here. I hate drawing."

Gale chuckles, though it has an undertone of annoyance. "That's fine." She says calmly. "You can swap my class out for an extra class in anything you want."

Ben lets out a sigh of relief. "Okay good. I'm dead serious when I say that my art is the same as a child's." Cloud lets out a little sigh, but quickly silences herself as Gale looks at her.

"Well." Gale says. "Be sure to say so when you enroll for your classes." She goes to walk away.

"Wait!" Ben says suddenly, before he can stop himself. When Gale looks at him, he looks down. Despite the fact he wants to scream 'What is this world?! Where am I?!' He merely mutters, "N...Nice meeting you."

Gale says the same and walks away.

"Why did you do that?" Cloud asks, confused at his sudden outburst.

Ben looks at her for a good long moment. "Not important." He says finally and follows the group of dragons away from Gale and toward a side area. A graveyard.

Damean's voice carries above the shuffling of dragon feet. "These great statues you see before you are some of our world's greatest heroes and legends. Look upon them and feel inspired, for you are walking the same ground they did. They learned everything here in this temple, from the guardians of the past."

Ben looks at the statues with mixed emotions. On one hand, he really does feel impressed and inspired by the dragon couple standing proudly before him. On the other, he feels as though he has seen them before. Confused, he walks up to the plaque and rubs away the dust and moss growing on it.

It reads. " _Spyro and Cynder. Heroes of the Realms. The first heroic purple dragons. May their legend inspire us all."_

"Spyro and Cynder?!" Ben shout in surprise. "They aren't real!"

Cloud gives him his minutely dose of confused looks. "Of course they are! They were heroes. And they are only some of the heroes. Everyone of these statues are people who did great things." She says, pointing at the other statues. "And each is surrounded by the graves of loved ones."

"Right, right, right." Ben say hurriedly. "But Spyro and Cynder aren't real! They're from a video game!" He looks at the graves near the Spyro and Cynder statue. "And here! Ignitus... Terrador... Volteer... Cyril... These are all not real!"

"Are you alright in the head?" Cloud asks angrily. "You're acting like you aren't from this world."

Ben freezes and looks at her, then looks around. The group was far ahead, and the only people nearby were the statues themselves. "Can you keep a secret?" He whispers to her and she nods.

"I'm really not from this world. I'm from a world without dragons. They're nothing but legends. Heck, they aren't even real legends. Legends have some evidence they exist, but dragons in my world are completely fake. They don't exist. Period."

Cloud scoffs. "That's not possible. Even if you were from another world, how did you get here?"

"I don't know." Ben hisses. "I fell down a hole and drank some water and now I'm here. Now, I'm not complaining cause this place is beautiful. No pollution, completely untouched by all forms of humanity... I couldn't be happier... But how did I get here?"

Cloud growls. "How the fuck should I know!? I think you are full on insane, honestly, but I will do what you wanted and keep your little secret safe." She then runs after the rest of the group, and Ben swiftly follows, concern and excitement fighting for control in his mind.

Damean notices as the two approach and decides to hand over the tour to a former student who was shadowing him, who gladly accepts, eager to be noticed. Damean then snakes his way through the crowd and walks in between Ben and Cloud. "Hello... I've seen you before, Cloud." He then turns to Ben and gives him a stare so powerful it actually makes Ben shudder a little. "I don't think I have had the pleasure of meeting you, though. What is your name?"

"My name is Ben Relic, sir." Ben says politely. "It's my first time visiting the Temple."

Damean's eyes narrow and somehow his glare becomes even more powerful. "You should have come to the temple at ten years of age."

Ben shrugs. "Couldn't make it, sorry." Cloud stares at him with a look that says he is dancing in the devil's mine field.

Damean smirks. "You will be an interesting student." And with that, he stops, letting them continue on with the group.

Once they are a good distance away, Cloud slaps him on the back of the head, to which he giggles. "Don't you do your little chortles. Don't you know who that was?!"

"Nope." Ben answers. "I've never been here, remember?"

Cloud snarls very un-ladylike. "Then consider yourself lucky. He's not just in charge of Combat and Breath Training, he's also the punisher if you break the rules. And nobody likes him!"

"Well has anyone ever tried?" Ben asks and Cloud opens her mouth to respond, then frowns and shuts it. "Exactly. I'll bet I can make friends with him. I'm very good with people who are supposed to be evil, trust me." He walks ahead to keep up with the crowd and Cloud follows begrudgingly.

Suddenly, a dragon melds out of the darkness at the front of the crowd, startling both the guide and a few students nearby. His head is covered in silver horns and his tail ends in a scythe tail blade. He roars in laughter and then scans the crowd. "It's wonderful to see you all here!" His cheery voice echoes. "How many of you are excited for the school year!?" The crowd cheers loudly, feeding off his excitement to fuel their own. "Awesome! And how many are excited for language arts!?"

The volume of the cheering shrinks considerably around him and his smile disappears with it. Annoyed at the school's rude students and feeling an adrenaline kick at the smallest thing like he normally does, Ben rushes through the crowd until he is directly in front of the rest of the crowd and shouts at the top of his lungs. "I'M EXCITED FOR LANGUAGE ARTS!"

Everyone stares at him and Cloud desperately tries to be hidden in a thicker part of the crowd. The black scaled dragon in front of Ben smiles warmly at him and Ben smiles back. "Well, thank you, kind sir, for showing that someone here loves writing and reading as much as I." He says, cheerful once more, and Ben nods. "How about we get you signed up for my class first?" Smiling wider, the dragon leads the crowd, with Ben right beside him, to a few desks each with stacks of eight papers. Each one is to sign up for different classes at different times and days.

Ben takes a pen and writes his name down on the first day, first writing class, and then goes through and makes it so the second day writing is second, third day is third, etc. The guardian looks over him with a smile that slowly fades into a frown as he notices something. "You have two names?" He asks and Ben nods. "Very strange... Very strange." Then the smile returns and he whispers. "Maybe you should change it. Were you born with a name, or do you have a name you wish for us to call you? If you do, please write it there, instead of two names. It will be much less confusing. Plus, it might keep you from being bullied."

Ben looks at him and shrugs, then scribbles out the four times he wrote his name and thinks. He looks deep into the list of names he has created for his many games and read about in stories, trying to find the one he wants to be called for his time here. "Cloud mentioned something about my dragon element being poison. Is that true Mr...?" Ben asks, trailing off and prompting the dragon to say his name.

"Scath, and I do not know your element. Many dragons have one color of scale, and another completely different element. The only way to tell would be to go to the training ground and find out. More then likely, yes, you are a poison dragon."

Ben smiles. "Then I know my name." Quickly, Ben pulls out the first paper and writes his new name. "Bricriu." He reads aloud to Scath. "Which means Poison Tongue."

Scath smiles too. "Well, let's hope you are a poison dragon then."


	2. Being Different

**Next chapter! Now that Ben's name has changed, I will start calling him what he changed it to, AKA Bricriu. I don't know where I found that Bricriu mean Poison Tongue, but if you find it means something else, please tell me. Bricriu is just what I will be using and with that translation in mind. Anyway, here's the next chapter.**

Bricriu collects his schedule into a neat stack, then picks up a folder and puts them in it. Putting it into the satchel, he yelps as he gets a papercut from the folder as he pulls his paw out. Growling that his scales can still somehow get paper cuts between them, he turns to Cloud and asks. "Aren't you going to get one?"

"Aunt set it up for me." She says calmly. "I'm gonna go to my dorm." She turns away and walks upstairs as Scath leads the rest of the crowd down to the cafeteria. Confused on what to do, Bricriu follows Scath to the cafeteria.

"We can all take a break in the tour now to grab a bite to eat." Scath says loudly. "Sit down and get to know each other, enjoy the food, and chill." A few audible groans come from the crowd, but most dragons simply walk to the line and get food.

Bricriu carefully grabs a plate of beef and a few greens that he assumes is lettuce and, carefully holding it in his mouth, sits down at an empty circle table and begins eating slowly, scanning the crowd for Cloud.

"'Sup, crazy." A cheerful voice says behind him and he looks over his shoulder at the blue scaled dragon who spoke up. His wings are larger than most dragons around and his belly is a lighter blue, almost white, compared to his scales on the rest of his body. Noticeably his scales got darker the closer to his face they got, ending finally at his eyes, which were a darker blue than anything else on his body. His tail ended in what at first glance looks like a four sided scythe, but in reality they're more akin to icepicks than scythes.

"Mind if I sit here?" The dragon asks and Bricriu nods slightly, looking away from him to continue searching. "Who you lookin' for?" The dragon says before chomping into a chicken leg.

"Just a friend." Bricriu mutters before giving up and focusing on the meal.

"Cool." The dragon mutters before swallowing his bite and saying. "Now, as much as I would like to keep calling you 'Crazy', I'm gonna assume you have a name."

"Be-... Bricriu." Bricriu stops himself just before he can say his real name and looks at the dragon. "Yours?"

"My name's Jade." The blue dragon says and holds out a paw for Bricriu, who takes it for a little bit of an awkward "paw" shake. "I didn't see you last time I was here." Jade says curiously.

"I'm new." Bricriu clarifies and takes a big bite of beef. "Wish they had some ketchup here."

Jade looks at Bricriu with the same face he got from Cloud over and over. "What is Ketchup? Is it a plant or something?"

Bricriu shrugs. "Yeah kinda... It's made of tomatoes and stuff, so I guess so. Anyways... How many teachers are here?"

"Right now? All of them. In case you haven't noticed, Scath has vanished like he does. More than likely, next up is Lason probably. And like he does, he is gonna show up and make us all stop eating two minutes early to get into a PERFECT line and then we have to KEEP the line for his whole part of the tour." Jade growls angrily and noticeably starts eating faster.

"Chill, Jade. It's gonna be fi-" Jade suddenly throws a carrot at Bricriu's face, making him yelp. "What was that for?!"

"Don't tell me to chill. I hate that so much. People need to stop it with the stupid ice puns!" Jade's tail thrashes angrily and he glares daggers at Bricriu.

Bricriu shudders. "Sorry man, I didn't mean to insult you... So... you're an ice dragon, I guess?"

Jade snorts, and Bricriu can't help notice that his breath has become slightly colder, creating a mist in the air. "Yes, I am. Actually, I am more than that. I am a Noble ice dragon. My grandfather is the nephew to Cyril himself."

Bricriu smirks. "Really? Well, I hope you aren't the spoiled, bitchy kind of noble that can't take a joke." He chuckles and after a second Jade does too, then they continue with their lunch.

Suddenly a green scaled dragon, darker in color then Bricriu and with horns that curve backwards, bangs loudly on a pot he grabbed from the kitchen, scaring many around him. "Lunch time is over in thirty seconds! Hurry up, stuff your bellies and get going! Straight line, just like before!"

"Like before?" Bricriu wonders aloud, but Jade just throws away his chicken bone and then walks to the wall, standing with his left side to it, facing the door. Bricriu copies him and, as one, the line moves forward and out into the main hall.

"Dang, Jade. What's his backstory? He part of the army or something? He seems to want this place run as strict as a well oiled war machine." Bricriu comments with a whisper.

Jade answers in an even more quiet tone. "His father was a soldier. That's probably why. Now keep quiet if you really are new here. This guy hands out detentions like cookies at my nana's." He proceeds to turn his head away from Bricriu and focus on walking straight, with Bricriu right behind him.

The dragon, who Bricriu assumed was Lason, led the group down the main hall and then up stairs to the dorm hall, which is lined on both walls with rooms. "This is your rooms for your stay here at the school, unless you can afford a room outside of the school walls!" Lason barked down the hall to us, then led us down the hall. "Gentlemen will be on this side of the hall!" He gestured by spreading both his wings to his left and right, then as he reached the middle stairs he points ahead. "And that is where the ladies will stay! Now, upstairs to the classrooms, and I will give you fifteen minutes to explore and find your classes for the first day!" And with that, he stood aside, watching the line of students march past.

Once upstairs, everyone immediately broke the line and ran off to check their classes. Bricriu turned to Jade and shrugged. "Welp, I guess I will follow you for now. I don't know where any of my classes are." Jade nods ands leads Bricriu down the left, pointing out the math, science, and language classrooms.

"I assume flight classes are outside?" Bricriu asked, looking down the other hall and spotting the signs for a counselor's room, an infirmary, and what looks to be an empty balcony, until one dragon flies up and lands on it, showing that it is a landing pad.

"Of course. Do you have any idea how much money a building for flight would cost? It would need to be huge!" Jade expands his wings and accidentally slaps someone on the face. "Oops." Jade says before taking off in a full sprint, followed by the dragoness.

Startled and confused, Bricriu follows after him, running as best he can through the lines of students until he sees the stranger dart into an empty classroom after Jade.

Bricriu walks up to the entrance and watches Jade and the stranger roll around on the empty floor like wild animals, biting and snarling at each other as they do. Bricriu moves to enter the room and do something, but Gale and Cloud push their way through the crowd and Gale rushes in, opens her mouth, and with an incredible force air rushes out and pins the two fighters against the wall. She stops it and they flop to the ground as she snarls. "Jade! Coral! Both of you. Scrying pool. NOW!" They scramble to their feet and rush out of the room.

Scared stiff, Bricriu looks at Cloud, who simply gestures with her tail for him to follow as she follows her aunt, flanked on both sides by Jade and this Coral girl.

Gale goes downstairs with the two and as Cloud and Bricriu reach the bottom floor, she opens a big set of doors at the end of the hallway. Bricriu leans over and notices that Scath, Lason, and Damean are all sitting or standing around a large pool, along with four other dragons.

The big doors shut, but Cloud simply walks up to them and shoves one open, then walking inside. Timidly, Bricriu follows close behind her, keeping his head low and avoiding looking directly into anyone's eyes.

From what he can see from looking at people's feet, there are ten other dragons in here. Eight adults and two kids, just from paw size. And with a quick glance up, Bricriu confirmed that there indeed were that exact number.

A red dragon with four horns stands directly across from Bricriu. Two jagged large horns stand over the two smaller ones and under those sites some red fins. His face looks young and happy, despite the rest of the groups angry or stern gazes towards Jade and Coral. His tail looks like it has multiple prongs down it towards the tip. Staring at the dragon, Bricriu lets out a small gasp as he realizes that this dragon looks almost the same as Ignitus, fire guardian and father figure to Spyro, but with more prongs on the tail, as well as being years younger and missing the shoulder fins.

Next to him, standing quite close, is a yellow scaled dragoness. A horn juts out from her head like a unicorn, and all down her spine to her tail tip are little mini versions of it, making her look twice as mythical as the others in attendance. Her underbelly is a light shade of yellow compared to her back, making it look almost white in the right light.

On the other side of the red dragon sits a blue dragon looking very bored and glancing jealously at the Ignitus relative and the yellow dragoness, who has leaned over to nuzzle each other. Blue's horns curve like a ram's and his smooth back holds two slightly smaller wings than a dragon of his size should have. Looking closer, Bricriu also notes that he looks surprisingly feminine, but he's most certainly male as he glares angrily at Jade and Coral.

The final new dragoness in the room stands next to Gale and seems to have blanked out. She eyes look glassy and obviously she is quite old, possibly in her sixties if dragons live for as long as humans. Everything about her screams old timer, from the way her claws look broken and unkept to the way her scales seem to have faded to a very dull earthy color from what they were. Her tailblade has no blade about it, instead ending in the large spiked ball of a mace. On her side there are three long scars.

Everyone in the room keeps their attention on Coral and Jade as Gale speaks. "I understand there has been a rivalry between you two since the last visit to this school, however I do not understand why you have been unable to let it go. Coral, what Jade did then and what he did now was an accident, from what I saw." She then turns her attention to Jade. "And Jade, when she attacked you shouldn't have fought back." Jade gives her a look that practically screams for him and she growls. "You should have ran to one of us so we could take care of it."

"That's not fair!" Jade and Bricriu say simultaneously, making everyone in the room look at Bricriu. Looking down, he mutters. "She attacked him after Jade accidently hit her. She shouldn't have been as enraged at him."

Coral growls at Bricriu and he shrinks back a little. "You don't know what happened last time!"

Bricriu looks at her, obviously fearful but still speaking strongly and defiantly. "While that is inherently true, as I have never been to this school before, I refuse to believe that what was done so long ago can justify you having such a powerful hatred towards Jade. He's a nice guy from what I have seen and doesn't deserve hatred. Forgive him for what he did and maybe you can make a very powerful ally here at the school. After all, what are we supposed to do in this life besides make friends? Those we interact with and those we keep close will always be the most important to us, and we may change their lives for the better so long as we stand by them." His eyes lift up to stare at hers as he finishes, full of hope that she will listen.

After glaring at him for a long while, Coral does look down, her expression softening. "You... You are right, I suppose..." She turns to Jade and whispers. "Can we be friends again?"

Jade looks at her, absolutely stunned. "S-Sure!" He leans forward and nuzzles her, which she happily returns with a smile.

All the guardians take their attention off Jade and Coral to give Bricriu the same stunned look Jade held. Bricriu beams from ear to ear and bows a little, feeling it's the right thing to do.

"How'd you do that magic, Bricriu?" Cloud asks in a hushed whisper and Bricriu shrugs.

"I like to think I'm good at making people happy." Bricriu answers, his tail wagging low to the ground subconsciously as he looks at all the dragon's stunned faces. "I've got a way with words."

A long pause follows, but eventually Jade simply smiles and walks up to Bricriu, slapping him on the back playfully. "I think I got a new best friend!" He laughs and Bricriu smirk widens. Cloud scoffs behind him and leaves, but Bricriu doesn't notice as he and Jade both look at Coral with a smile of triumph.

"I don't know why you two are smirking so wide." Gale growls. "Jade and Coral are still both being punished." The smiles disappear and reappear on Gale's face. "Good. Both of you will be eating your lunches in separate classrooms from now on." Jade and Coral bow their heads in respect. "Now get out of here, all three of you. Lunch is ending soon and once it is over, you will be heading to your dorms to get settled in, or heading to the combat room to check on your elemental abilities. And I will be making sure you are Separated." She finishes with a hiss and Jade and Coral get out as fast as possible, followed by Bricriu.

Once they have walked away from the room, Jade suddenly turns to Coral and tackles her. Terrified they had suddenly started fighting again, Bricriu moves to break them up, but as they roll they laugh happily, giving Bricriu a moment to pause.

Once they stop, Jade gives Coral a nuzzle, which she returns happily. "It's so good to be your friend again." She whispers and Jade nods a little.

Bricriu smiles awkwardly and coughs to get their attention. "I still need a guide Jade. I don't know this place all too well."

Jade smirks and nods, climbing off Coral as he does. "Then let's get going! I wanna practice my combat moves." Coral chuckles and gets to her feet, and together all three of them head to the combat training room.

Once they arrive to their destination, a large circular room with a statue of a menacing dragon in the middle a few minutes before the bell, Jade grins and says. "Looks like we have the place to ourselves. Coral, you still know how to work the machines?" Coral grins as well and nods, running over to a side of the wall that is covered in levers and buttons and dials.

Wiggling her fingers and giggling, she pulls one of the levers and the statue rumbles. Bricriu yelps and jumps away from it as it is lowered into the ground and covered, leaving the entire room empty.

Coral pulls another lever and a small humanoid dummy springs up from on the other side of the room. It holds a fake sword in one hand and someone has drawn a laughable cartoon face full of "Anger".

Jade walks up to it with a bit of a swagger, then suddenly swings his tail hard at the dummy, sinking one of the blades deep into the poor thing's chest. It oozes very realistic looking blood for a moment before vanishing in a poof of smoke.

Bricriu stares with his jaw held slack at both the magic of the dummy and the brutality of what Jade just did. Coral laughs at his face and pulls another lever, making a dummy appear near her.

Grinning like an animal, she pounces at it, sinking her claws deep into it's shoulders. Again it bleeds and poofs, and she expertly lands on her feet. No sign of the blood is on her or Jade.

"Alright Bricriu." Jade says as he walks over to Bricriu, who is still trying to process all that just happened. "Your turn." Jade shoves Bricriu with his shoulder towards the center, and Coral makes another dummy appear just like before.

Bricriu stands shaking in front of the dummy. It's false face glares at him as Coral and Jade stand and watch. "No need to think of a way to impress us!" Coral calls and Jade adds. "Yeah, not like you could do better than me anyways."

Nothing changes on Bricriu's face. Still grinning a little, Jade walks up to him and taps his shoulder. "Dude, you okay? You look terrified." Coral walks away from the controls and stands on Bricriu's other side, worried.

"I..I've" Bricriu struggles to get the words out, but once they do they don't stop. "I've never seen anything like that! Where did they go?! Did you just kill Dummies?! Was that magic or some sort of powerful hologram?! They even bleed! Are they living?!"

Jade takes a step back, confused. "Um... No?" He shakes his head. "No, they're not alive. They're magical constructs for us to train our skills with... Haven't you fought one before?"

Bricriu freezes up once more, looking at his new friends fearfully. "N-no..." He finally says, and when the quizzical looks appear on Jade's and Coral's faces, he continues. "Can you two keep a secret?"

Jade and Coral chuckle, but Bricriu's cold stare silences them. "Bricriu," Coral says, confused and nervous. "You're not some psychopath, right?"

Bricriu shakes his head. "No, I'm just... From another world." Looking down, he explains everything he told Cloud. Once he finishes, he glances up for a moment to see their faces.

Jade and Coral both stare, trying hard to contain the humor in their eyes and mouths. "You're shitting me, right?!" Jade finally says, and with that he and Coral both break down in laughter, Coral going so far as to fall onto her back and clutch her stomach as she laughs hysterically.

Bricriu sighs and turns away, only to come face to face with the dummy again. It's angry eyes seem to hold a humor to them, the same humor that was in Jade's and Coral's eyes. Taking a deep breath, Bricriu lets the anger shield his mind as he lunges forward and sinks his teeth into the dummy's neck.

The blood drips onto Bricriu's tongue and he gags, though not at the taste. The taste is not bad, as it tastes like something sweet, like honey, instead of blood. But the thought of this thing bleeding on him makes his insides churn.

Jade and Coral both cheer as the dummy poofs away, leaving Bricriu no more flavor in his mouth. He quickly takes a step back and gags again, closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths as Coral runs up to the controls.

"Stop!" A voice calls from the door, angry and annoyed. Timidly and still breathing deeply to keep from throwing up Bricriu turns and sees Damean standing there, glaring at Coral as she steps away from the controls. Then he looks at Jade and finally Bricriu.

"Merciful ancestors, don't you see what you're doing to him!?" Damean shouts angrily, running over to Bricriu and rubbing his back gently.

Bricriu smiles weakly and lifts his head a little. "Don't worry." He whispers to Damean. "I'll be fine."

Damean smiles back and keeps rubbing anyways. "Obviously Gale was kidding. You really are new around here. Have you had any sort of battle training before, Bricriu?"

Bricriu shakes his head no and Damean glares at Coral. "Spawn another dummy. I'll take it from there." Coral nods meekly and flips a switch, causing another dummy to spawn. "Alright Bricriu, now step back. I want to show you something." Bricriu nods and steps away.

Damean also steps back with him, but then he leans forward and thrusts his tail over his shoulder, his arrow tip tail blade stopping just before hitting. "Notice how exposed I was in that attack? I had to lift my backside to strike, leaving me open for a counterattack. But Bricriu, your tail is longer than anyone else in this room. Try what I just did. Stab the dummy with your tail blade."

Bricriu nods and takes up the same pose, wiggling his tail to assure himself that he can control. With a deep breath and a final tail lash, he thrusts his tail over his left shoulder just like Damean showed him, not at all needing to lift his backside to impale the dummy in the chest. Leaving the blade buried in it's chest, Bricriu grunts in surprise and confusion as feeling drains from the tip of his tail.

"Well done Bricriu." Damean says as the dummy falls back and Bricriu draws his tail back. "Seems my theory was right. If you're going to fight, you're going to need to learn to fight with your tail. Not to say that your breath attack will be useless, but it.." He pauses and glances at the dummy. "Why has it not disappeared yet?"

Jade walks over and stares at the dummy, then points at the wound. "Look! He poisoned it with his tail!" Everyone crowds around the dummy and watches it, mesmerized, as the poison begins to eat at the dummy's 'flesh' until it's almost gone.

Bricriu stares slack jawed, then looks back at his tail blade and becomes even more shocked. The base of his blade had lost it's color, but was regaining it quickly before anyone else noticed.

"You... Poisoned it from the inside..." Damean looks at Bricriu and grins. "You're a special one, huh? Oh boy, wait till the others hear of this. Stay here." He leaves, running towards the scrying pool.

Jade and Coral run up to Bricriu and assault him with questions, but the one that they finish with is, "What makes you special?"

Feeling overwhelmed, Bricriu looks at his tail blade and says. "Why don't we do it again and see?" Coral takes the hint and nods, running quickly over to the machinery and spawning a new dummy. Jade gives space for Bricriu and he gets into the same position as before.

With another deep breath, Bricriu thrusts his tail over his other shoulder this time, stabbing the dummy right in the "heart". Again that numb feeling consumes his tail, and when he pulls out the scales around his tail blade have gone dull, the color slowly returning.

This time, Jade does notice, and he cries out in surprise. "Your scales change color?! Dude that is sick!" Coral sees it as well and her eyes go as wide as dinner plates.

"I think," Bricriu pauses to watch his scales turn back to normal, then he turns to his friends and finishes. "I think my tail is like a syringe. It injects my poison element... thing into the dummy."

"A syringe?" Coral asks. "I've never heard of a tail like that! That's amazing!" She looks closely at his tail in curiosity and awe, careful not to poke her own eye out with it.

Just then, the other guardians walk in, with Damean at the lead, obviously proud and excited. "Alright Damean, make this quick." Gale mutters and Damean runs over to the controls, spawning another dummy. "Bricriu, show us what you can do."

Bricriu nods and turns to the dummy, doing one more practice lash with his tail before thrusting it over his shoulder, stabbing the dummy in the chest. The poison/acid seeps into the dummy and begins to eat away at its body. As it does, he turns around and watches the reactions of the Guardians.

The other guardians take a step back as they watch the dummy get eaten away and disappear.

The old green dragoness mutters something under her breath as Lason stands close to her and watches, impressed. "That's some powerful acid, huh Lurra?" Lason asks and the old woman grunts, revealing her name to Bricriu.

"Well, you certainly are a special case, Bricriu." Gale says as she walks up to him. He shrinks back a little as she approaches, but she stops and asks. "We know you're a poison dragon, but have you ever tried your breath attack."

Bricriu stops for a moment, debating in his mind as to whether or not to lie, but Gale takes his silence as an answer. "Damean, come teach him how to Breathe." Damean nods and the ice dragoness guardian takes his place at the controls.

"Okay Bricriu, it's quite simple. Once you do it the first time, it will be easy to master. Just close your eyes, take deep breaths and focus. Do you feel anything within you?" Damean asks.

Bricriu tries to empty his mind and feel around in his mind, and after a minute of silence, he feels something new in his chest. "There's a thing in my chest... An energy."

"Good." Damean says. "Focus on it, draw it out into your mouth, and release it at the dummy."

Bricriu nods and focuses on the feeling in his heart. It seems to grow, and he can feel its power climbing up his throat. He keeps the power contained until he feels it has built long enough, and then opens his mouth.

A green ball of acid spew out of his open maw and slams into the dummy, seeping into its wood skin and quickly eating away at it until it poofs away again.

"Well done." Damean whispers, and the others give their congratulations to him.

Bricriu looks around with a smile, but something feels off. "Damean... Can you spawn another... I feel more energy, but it's different this time."

Whispers of a second element arise from the guardians, but Damean nods and quickly spawns another. Bricriu turns to it and allows the energy to fill his throat again.

The energy once again climbs upward, but as it goes it feels like the consistency of it shifts and morphs. It doesn't feel like a liquid anymore.

Opening his mouth, Bricriu spits out another ball, but this one was different. There are a few sharp breathes behind him from the watchers as the blue gunk doesn't eat at the dummy's skin. Instead it slowly spreads across its chest, coating it up to its neck, sides, and waist.

Silence consumes the group as they stare and wait for Something to happen.

Lurra glares at the liquid and finally says in her grizzled voice. "Why is the acid not working?"

"Because it's not acid, you color-blind dolt!" Gale hisses angrily and she walks forward to stand next to Bricriu. "What Is It?"

Bricriu swallows nervously and walks up to the dummy, staring at the blue stuff fearfully.

"Wait!" Scath shouts. "Bricriu, don't touch it! We need to remove that stuff safely. Infernar, you wanna melt this stuff?"

The red dragon stops nuzzling the lightning dragoness for a moment and looks up with a goofy grin. "Sure thing, Scath." Infernar then walks up to the dummy and, making a little o shape with his mouth, spews out a line of fire akin to a blow torch and begins melting the goo.

At least, that was what was hoped. In truth his fire had no effect on the blue residue. The fire splits harmlessly as it touches the gunk. Eventually Infernar notices this and cuts off the fire, stepping back away in fear.

Bricriu walks up quickly and, before anyone can touch him to stop him, he presses his paw against the goo.

His paw sinks in and when he pulls it back out he gasps in surprise as he watches it consume his claws, all the way up to his ankle. As it does, he feels his paw twitch as a powerful energy races through it, focusing on one specific spot; his paper cut. Watching closely, Bricriu notices that the paper cut he had gotten has slowly closed itself up and healed without any mark.

"It's... Healing me!" Bricriu cries out in surprise and holds still. "Look! My cut's gone!" He holds out his paw to the group, but they never saw the cut, and so they don't believe him.

"How do you get it off, Bricriu?!" Coral cries, afraid. Realization seems to sink in with everyone at that point, and Bricriu looks at his paw fearfully.

"I don't know." He whimpers, then turns to the dummy, who is also covered with the goo. Hopeful as can be possible, Bricriu builds up his acid breath and fires it a glob at the dummy's chest.

As soon as the greenish-yellow liquid hits, the blue goo begins to get eaten away, without touching the dummy. Everyone cheers as they watch and Bricriu, feeling safe, drools a bit of acid onto his paw, watching the goo get eaten away. "It feels like glue getting peeled off." He giggles. Once his paw is clean of the blue, he shakes it and makes sure he can still feel it.

"That's awesome, dude!" Jade says, and Coral echoes his words.

The guardians are whispering amongst themselves as Cloud runs up to Bricriu and slaps him hard. "What the hell are you thinking?!" She screeches. "You are going to end up killing yourself if you keep being so risky!" She glares angrily at Bricriu, who stares back at her with a confused and fearful expression, but suddenly her glare softens and she whispers. "I just... Don't want to lose another friend."

Bricriu understands and smiles happily, gloating. "Well don't you worry your pretty little head. You won't lose me." Jade and Coral snicker at the pretty little head comment, but Cloud smiles nervously and nods a little.

Scath walks up to their group and says. "Bricriu, since you say that your... blue... poison can heal people, Lurra has agreed to allow you to use it on her."

Lurra pipes up as she walks forward. "Not as if these old scars are doing me any good." She lifts one of her wings a little and shows her left side to Bricriu and his group.

Down the length of her side, from top to bottom, are three long, old scars. Taking a small gulp, Bricriu steps forward and draws forth the energy, then spits his goo forward.

The blue goo latches onto her side and spreads slowly over her. She lets out a nervous whimper, but relaxes after the goo stops. The air in the room is still as everyone waits.

Cloud suddenly gasps and whispers. "Look." She points to the bottom of Lurra's longest scar, which has begun to close up and mend.

Everyone watches with amazed eyes as the scars begin to heal slowly. Lurra is taking deep breaths to keep herself calm as she feels her scars closing until they are gone.

"Merciful ancestors." Gale whispers, turning to look at Bricriu, who is still looking at Lurra's side. "You're a... a..."

Scath finishes for her. "You're amazing."

Bricriu looks at everyone and smiles weakly. "I try." He says, just before his eyes roll back and he collapses to the ground, startling everyone.


	3. First Day of Boredom

**First two chapters out, and now Bricriu's powers have been explained as well (one heals and one is acid/poison). So I think it's time we see what kind of a mess he can get himself into. Besides the ones he is already in.**

Bricriu groaned as he awoke on a clean white mattress. He pushes up with his forepaws and throws the blanket on his body off him, then looks around in confusion.

He seems to be in a very large white room, with a white curtain around him. Blinking once or twice to get used to all the white around him, he gets out of the bed and calls out. "Hello?"

His call is answered by a dragon throwing apart the curtain and demanding. "Open your mouth." Startled, Bricriu complies, opening his maw wide while humming, "Ahhhh."

The dragon, who Bricriu notes is wearing a patch with a red blood drop on his back like a saddle, looks inside and nods, then pats Bricriu's leg to get him to stop. "Any idea why you passed out in the combat room?" He asks.

Bricriu frowns and asks. "I passed out?" When the dragon nods, Bricriu sighs. "Just too much excitement. It's a bad habit of mine, when attention is on me and stuff."

"It was more than that." The doctor dragon nods and notes it down, then smiles warmly at Bricriu. "I believe you used up to much elemental energy in one sitting. Here." He hands Bricriu a green gem. "Crush this in your paw."

Confused, Bricriu does as he is told, crushing the gem in his grasp. It shatters easily and Bricriu quickly drops it with a cry, afraid of getting cut, but nothing painful happens. Instead, he feels energy race through his body and rest in his chest, where he first felt the energy he used in the combat room.

The doctor smiles wider. "Don't worry. Doctors don't hurt their patients on purpose." He then looks outside at the sun. "You might as well head out. The guardians said that you should follow around a student in an average day so you know what to expect. He's waiting outside."

Bricriu nods in return and climbs out of bed a little awkwardly, then grabs his school satchel off the table by the bed. With a little wave goodbye, he goes out the door of the big white room.

"How was your first visit to the infirmary, crazy?" Someone asks to Bricriu's left. Bricriu smiles as he turns and sees Jade standing up from the ground with a grin.

"Not bad." Bricriu answers. "Though I feel like I went blind. All that white everywhere." He fakes a shudder.

Jade laughs and nods. "I know that feeling. C'mon, we gotta get to our writing class." Jade turns and starts walking towards the stairs. Bricriu quickly follows.

As they are walking up the stairs, Lurra intercepts them on her way down. Squinting a little, she sighs in relief and says. "Thank the ancestors you're awake. I need you Bricriu." Walking back upstairs with him and Jade, Lurra raises her wing and shows him her side, still covered in the blue healing stuff. "No other element can remove it, not even Lason's acid."

Blushing, Bricriu mutters. "Sorry." He quickly spits a small amount of his poison onto her side, which proceeds to melt the blue away.

"What are you going to call that stuff, Bricriu?" Jade asks curiously. Bricriu frowns and thinks for a moment, putting in the same thought he got for his name but coming up with nothing.

"May I make a suggestion?" Lurra asks as she turns her body towards the two friends. Bricriu looks up at her as she continues. "Maybe call it an Elixir, seeing as how it seems to be a cure all for injuries as well as indestructible. It reminds me of the stuff snake oil merchants you'll find outside the city sell, except this actually is a cure."

Jade gasps. "Dude, what if this stuff can cure all diseases too!" Jade's tail begins wagging behind him.

Bricriu smiles at him, then shakes his head. "I doubt that's how my... Elixir would work, Jade." Bricriu smiles wider and nods to Lurra. "It's a great name. Thanks. Anyways, the stuff only disappears when my acid melts it. Meaning that there is a high possibility that when someone drinks it, it will grow Inside them and suffocate them from within."

Jade's tail stops and he thinks about it, then shudders. "That's one hell of a way to go." Bricriu simply nods in agreement.

Lurra looks at them both, then says calmly. "Don't you two need to get to class?"

Bricriu and Jade glance at each other with a bit of a grin. "Yeah, we do. Glad I could help you, Lurra. Show me the way, Jade."

Lurra nods and walks past them down the stairs. Jade and Bricriu do the opposite, heading upstairs to the classrooms.

"Here we are. Scath's classroom." Jade smiles as he leads Bricriu to the same classroom that he had said before was the language arts class.

All eyes are on them as they walk in, but Scath quickly gets the attention of the class back on him. "Ladies and gents, please keep your attention on the papers. Bricriu, find an open seat please. Assignment is on the board. I assume you will need school supplies?" Bricriu nods as he takes a seat at one of the empty desks.

Scath hands him a paper and a quill. "We are writing about our opinions on light. Last month was darkness, so unfortunately you missed that, but I'm sure you'll have something interesting to talk about." Bricriu smirks a little and nods again.

Thirty minutes later, Scath begins collecting the papers. Bricriu scribbles his name on the top and smiles as he hands his paper to Scath.

Scath smiles back and says. "Okay class. Might as well chi-" A fearful glance at Jade silences him. "Er... you might as well stay here and relax for the last five minutes of class while I read over your papers." Some of the class snickers at his stutter, but Bricriu just shrugs and lays his head down on the desk.

Five minutes later the bell rings in the form of a large bell outside of the school in a tower. The students have already packed up and rush to get out of the classroom, leaving Bricriu to pack up his stuff and walk out.

"Wait Bricriu." Scath calls from his desk, and as Bricriu turns around Scath beckons him over to his desk.

With a small gulp, Bricriu nods and walks over to his desk. Scath smiles reassuringly at him and simply points to Bricriu's paper on the desk. "I like what you wrote. You bring up an interesting point in your third paragraph." Scath looks down at the paper and reads allowed. "Despite many praises that I and many others have for the light, I also have an opinion that light can be dangerous. It can hurt people, blind people from the truth, and trap others in the idea that darkness is evil." Scath smiles wider. "Those are some great points if I have ever seen them. Not to mention it could be an interesting thesis for an entirely new paper."

Bricriu smiles happily at the praise. "Thanks Scath."

Scath nods. "Tell me, who inspired this idea within you? Your parents? Your friends?" His eyes, while still full of humor, are also quizzical and questioning.

Bricriu's smile disappears as he notices the gaze. "M... my parents taught me it to think that way." He looks down to avoid Scath's look. Scath simply shrugs and puts the paper with the rest.

"That is very interesting... I would love to meet your parents some day. You can go now." Scath waves him out with his wing, and Bricriu nods and walks out quickly.

Jade sits outside on the floor while waiting, and before Bricriu can say anything, Jade leaps to his paws. "What happened?!" Jade shouts. "We don't have time for this, we have got to go!" Picking up his school satchel, Jade takes off running through the nearly empty hall.

"H-Hey!" Bricriu rushes after him as fast as he can manage, barely keeping behind Jade as he runs down the hall to the science classroom. "It's not your fault if you are late, don't worry! It'll be my fault!"

Despite Jade's fear, they do make it to the next class in time, which is outside in a small courtyard. The yellow dragoness is standing in front of a group of students, but as Jade and Bricriu walk over she turns her attention to them. "Hello Jade, Bricriu. Glad you two could make it." She focuses her attention on Bricriu. "My name is Fulma. I'm the lightning guardian here at the school and I teach flight classes." Fulma smiles warmly at Bricriu. "Have you ever flown before?"

Bricriu shakes his head and Jade's jaw drops. "Well then, after I get everyone working, why don't I take you off to the side and teach you?"

Bricriu nods. "That sounds alright. Where do I put my stuff?"

Fulma points with her tail to a side wall, where everyone else in the class has already placed their stuff down. Nodding again, Bricriu walks over and puts his school satchel down in the corner so he knows which one it is, then sits down and watches while Fulma gets everyone into the air and shows them where to go and how fast.

Eventually though she turns back to Bricriu and gestures for him to walk over, which he does. "Now then, let's go over where no one shall bother us." She says with a happy smile, turning and walking to a far corner of the courtyard, with Bricriu right behind her.

Other students fly over, swooping and diving through the sky. Jade and another dragon are racing around the temple in circles, nearly hitting others mid-flight but managing to avoid collision with over-the-top acrobatics. "Will you teach me to fly like them, Fulma?" Bricriu asks hopefully.

Fulma looks up and frowns a little before saying. "Two things. One, they have had a few years of practice." She then raises her voice. "Two, they shouldn't be doing that in the first place!"

The two racers stop quickly and hover, looking down at Fulma fearfully. She points at the ground and they nod, landing and going to the wall to sit down. "Flying like that is not permitted above the city or the temple. You'd do well to remember that, Bricriu." Bricriu nods and she is smiling once again. "Good. Now, let's get started. Proper takeoff position is like so." Fulma spreads her wings and places her four paws firmly to the ground, then crouches down as if to leap into the air, then stands back as normal. "You try." She orders.

Bricriu nods and does his best to copy her first position. Fulma walks around him, taking in every bit of his pose before adjusting his wings. "You're too loose up here. You need your wings firm, so they can lift you off the ground. Once in the air, you can relax." Bricriu frowns and tries to firm up his wings, but can't.

Fulma giggles. "No, that's your back." She gently rubs his back to get him to relax. "It's okay. Just try flapping them once or twice. Get used to them."

Bricriu looks back at his right wing and tries to move it at all. Eventually he manages to flap it, getting a cheer from the people in the air who are watching him struggle, as well as Jade and the other dragon. Smiling nervously at them, he turns and flaps his other wing, then both in unison.

He yelps in surprise as he can feel himself lift off the ground and he sinks his claws into the stones below him. Those watching laugh and snicker at him, but Fulma rubs his back again. "Nice work, but you need to find balance first."

"How do I do that when I didn't even get in the air!?" Bricriu snarls, then blushes a little from the attention.

"Shh, Bricriu. It'll be fine. You need to find balance before you can fly." Fulma thinks for a moment. "Let's try this method. Close your eyes and forget that you're on the ground. Imagine that you are above the air, soaring with the birds."

Bricriu shuts his eyes and tries to daydream as Fulma continues. "Forget everything. Forget yourself, Forget now. Only flow with your instincts, what your ancestors already knew."

Bricriu frowns and tries, but can't think of any ancestors to specifically dream about. 'How far back should I go? Does she want me to think of a few decades, or a millennium ago? And what heritage? Russian? French? Danish?'

His struggle must be on his face, because it isn't long before Fulma tells him to open his eyes.

Bricriu blinks as he opens his eyes and then looks around. At some point he had moved forward a great deal, almost halfway across the courtyard. "Did I fly?!" He asks Fulma excitedly.

Fulma shakes her head and Bricriu's smile disappears. "Actually, you just started pacing... And muttering... What did you think about?"

"I tried to think about my ancestors, but I didn't know who to think about." Bricriu growls.

Fulma gives him a confused look. "What do you mean? Just think about your ancestors."

"Which ones, Fulma?" Bricriu continues to glare. "Do I think about the ones from years ago, or decades ago?"

Fulma blinks in surprise and stutters. "W-Well... You should think about whoever you can. It shouldn't really matter."

Bricriu sighs and sits down. "Well then I guess that I won't be flying today." The other dragons stare at him for a little while longer, then they go back to flying around.

Fulma stares as well, then shrugs. "If you say so, Bricriu." She then takes flight to help others in the air and make sure nothing else goes wrong.

Bricriu lays down and sleeps for the entire class period. When the bell rings, he stands at the door to the courtyard and waits for Jade.

"Bricriu!" Jade calls from up in the air. "Let's fly to next class!" He then winces. "Ohhh, right. You can't." He laughs, and those that overheard laugh along with him.

"Go eat a sock!" Bricriu snarls at Jade and walks away, not caring about school or classes for now.

Behind him, Jade snickers and flies to his next class, leaving Bricriu alone to sulk and explore, which he does, heading out of the temple and off into the strange mushroom forest surrounding it.

He stares at every mushroom in amazement, thinking to himself that each one looks just like the ones from a game like minecraft, but less blocky of course.

He gently runs his paw against one and giggles as he squeezes a little. Off in the distance, Bricriu hears the sound of the ten minute bell at the temple. He quickly turns tail and runs back towards the temple.

As he re-enters school grounds the bell rings and the hallways are swarmed with students. Bricriu yelps and moves out of the way, heading upstairs quickly to the dorms.

Bricriu stands at the top of the stairs in the near empty hallway, looking left and right before heading for the boy's rooms and looking for his.

A dragoness walks towards him from the other direction. "Excuse me, miss?" Bricriu asks gently and she looks up at him. "How do I tell which room is mine?"

She blinks, then mutters. "It's on your schedule." before continuing on. Bricriu waves to her, then looks down at his schedule and finds his room.

"Room 176." He mutters, opening the door and glancing around inside. The interior of the room is white, with a carpet made of green and red stripes. A closet lies at the back of the room, with a few large pillows of varying colors directly next to it. On the other side of the room a school desk lies with an unlit candle in the corner of it. Besides those objects across the room from his, it's a barren floor.

Bricriu frowns as he walks into the room and shuts the door behind him. Walking over to the large green pillow, he feels it with his paw and realizes it feels more like a mattress then a pillow. He carefully climbs on top of the pillow and smiles. "This is nice." He confirms to himself, nodding in agreement before curling up to take a nap.

In his dreams, Bricriu sees a far off mountain in the distance. With a single step, he arrives at the base of the mountain, and from deep within a cave he can hear the sounds of whispering, almost demonic chanting.

With a deep breath and a stealing of his nerves, Bricriu heads into the cave. As he walks, the floor changes from a cave floor to a stone hallway, and soon he finds a long stone stairway leading up. Gulping a little, he climbs the stairs and ends up in a large room with six hallways, each in a different direction.

Bricriu looks down each hallway and sees nothing but pitch black darkness. In the center of the room there is a small pedestal with strange writing on it.

As Bricriu cautiously pads towards the pedestal, the words rearrange themselves from the language to English.

It reads, _"Trials of Malefor, the dark God of Avalar."_

Bricriu frowns at the words, racking his brain as he tries to remember who Malefor was from his games. He remembers the sorceress, Ripto, and the Rhynocs, but never any Malefor.

Suddenly a loud rumble comes from the roof above Bricriu. Looking up, he gasps as he realizes the cave is collapsing. Scrambling to turn around, he races out of the temple and back into the cave.

Looking back over his shoulder, Bricriu sees the temple door slam shut with a giant rock, and he sighs in relief, slowing down to a steady walk as he leaves the cave into the sunlight.

He glances left and right, unsure of where to go, until a large shadow falls over him.

With a scream of panic, Bricriu is jolted awake and comes face to face with Scath, who stares at him, incredibly worried. "Are you okay? Why aren't you with Jade?"

Bricriu pants lightly and whispers. "Just a bad dream... And Jade's a dick."

Scath frowns. "Language, please... Well, you've slept through to eighth period. So you might as well just come with me to my eighth period class." Bricriu nods and stands up, stretching like a cat before following Scath out and to his classroom once again.

As they enter, the student who was watching everyone else breathes a sigh of relief and quickly goes back to his seat. Scath nods his thanks to him, then turns to Bricriu and points at the empty spare desk in the back. Bricriu nods and sits down there, listening to other dragon's hushed whispers and mutterings as he walks past.

Scath begins the class talking about the same stuff he talked about with Bricriu's class, and so Bricriu sighs and lays his head down, wishing with all his might for his cellphone.

After an hour that seems to drag on and on, the bell finally tolls, signaling the end of the class. As people pack up and head out, Scath walks to Bricriu and asks. "Do you know where to go next?"

Bricriu shrugs and answers. "I had assumed that I could go to my dorm for the rest of the day."

Scath shakes his head. "Right now is dinner time, then you can go to your dorm." Bricriu nods and heads for the cafeteria, his pack over his shoulder.

Walking into the large room slowly, Bricriu scans the groups looking for Jade and Cloud. Spotting Jade and Coral in the middle of a group of ditzy dragonesses and athletic dragons laughing their asses off, Bricriu makes sure to keep as much distance between him and Jade.

He grabs two slices of bread and beef before walking around. Finally he spots Cloud sitting outside on a bench, and he quickly walks to her.

Cloud notices his approach and moves her school bag for him to sit by her, which he gratefully takes. "Finally stop hanging out with that womanizing man whore?"

Bricriu smirks a little, but shrugs. "If you mean Jade, yes. If you mean Scath, I had no idea he was like that!"

Cloud glares angrily at his joke and he quickly erases the smirk. "Good." She mutters, before continuing to work on her homework. "He is a bastard, him and his whole family."

Bricriu frowns. "That's a little harsh Cloud. I doubt his entire family was a bunch of dicks. There has to be a good one in there."

Cloud snorts. "Yeah. His mentally retarded brother is pretty nice." Cloud begins giggling at her joke.

Bricriu looks at her, appalled. "That's not funny!"

Cloud slowly stops giggling and returns to her work. "It's true though." Bricriu frowns and starts eating, looking down at the ground and chewing slowly.

"So." Bricriu pauses to swallow. "What makes you hate Jade so much?"

Cloud growls low and Bricriu flinches away, then she sighs and whispers. "He... He made me love him once."

Bricriu's eyes widen in surprise, and she immediately snarls at him. "Yes, you green idiot! I can love!"

Bricriu blinks, then says reassuringly. "I didn't say that Cloud. I was just surprised that you would tell me such sensitive information about yourself. It almost makes me feel like you trust me, which I am proud to be if I truly am. I promise I will never betray you like he did, because your friendship and happiness matters to me, as I am your friend and care immensely about you."

Cloud stares at him with the same exact confused look he's gotten so many times from her before, then rolls her eyes. "You just like to hear yourself talk, don't you?"

"I'd much rather hear your voice over mine, Cloud." Bricriu says in a sultry voice, which makes Cloud blush. Smiling wide, he carefully moves his wing over and covers her back with it.

"W-what are you doing?" Cloud stutters, blushing even more. "People can see us."

Bricriu whispers. "It's obvious you needed a hug, and forget everyone else. Until they make themselves known, they are not important. Just extras in the movie of your life." He covers Cloud with his other wing, blocking her view. "There. Now no one can see us together. Out of sight, out of mind."

Cloud opens her mouth to say something, then sighs and nuzzles close. Bricriu smiles wide and nuzzles her back.

As Bricriu opens his mouth to say something this time, Cloud suddenly starts purring from within her chest. His eyes widen and he hugs her tighter, whispering. "You sound adorable."

"Shut up." Cloud answers playfully.

"Seems I found the squishy interior that was hiding inside you Cloud." Bricriu retorts. Cloud just sighs and continues the hug, even as the final bell of the day rings out.

 **Now I know some of you might think that what just happened was a bit out of Cloud's character, but she's a Wind dragoness. When I picture a wind dragoness, I think of someone Bipolar or a little cruel, just like how the wind can be. But like a gentle breeze, they can have their calm, happy moments too.**

 **Also if anyone knows how to put LINES in here, I would be very grateful. After all, I tend to bounce around like each thing is another mini chapter so I need dividers.**


	4. Building and Tearing Bridges

**I'm so sorry this took so long, everyone! I have just been busy with school. My plan is to get two chapters out during summer as an apology, so be sure to Hopefully see that happen. I'm not dead, I'm just really running into a brick wall. These few chapters are the ones I haven't really thought about too much, but I'm working on it, I promise.**

The first bell of the day rings out, and Bricriu sits up on his sleeping pillow, stretching out his wings and forelegs, followed by his hind legs and tail. Then after a quick glance out the window to see the bright and early dawn, Bricriu grabs his school satchel and walks out his dorm room front door, immediately heading in the direction of Cloud's dorm.

Weaving his way through the crowd, he smiles as he spots her specific horn pattern and scale color among all the others and rushes ahead. "Cloud!" He calls as he goes.

Cloud looks at him and smiles a little, then looks down and sighs as he gets close. "Do you have to scream?" She asks.

"Yep!" Bricriu answers cheerfully. "Gotta make sure everyone knows you are my friend." He playfully pokes her in the shoulder with a talon.

Cloud sighs again, even more exaggerated than the last. "Fine." She starts walking, and Bricriu follows close behind.

They go downstairs to the cafeteria and grab the breakfast being served there before taking a seat in one of the corner tables and digging in.

"I wanted to talk to you about yesterday." Cloud says softly, in a voice that makes Bricriu worried. "Don't make a habit out of that... Hugging and flirting stuff. I don't want people to think you and I are... 'together'"

Bricriu nods in understanding and continues to eat. "I understand. I honestly dunno why I did that. Guess I was just feeling Adventurous." Cloud shrugs and they finish their meal in silence.

"May I walk you to your first class?" Bricriu asks as they stand and throw their trays away, to which Cloud gives a silent nod and leads the way to her class. "Are there sports teams or anything here? Maybe a band?" Cloud nods to both his questions and Bricriu smiles. "Are you in either of them?"

Cloud grumbles. "I wouldn't last a day." She then stops by the art classroom door and turns to Bricriu with a smile. "Thanks for walking me to class." Bricriu smiles back and nods, and she walks in along with a few other students.

Bricriu walks away and heads to his first class, smiling ear to ear as he does, not caring who notices.

As he walks into Scath's classroom, Scath notices the big smile and smirks. "Someone's in a happy mood."

Bricriu nods as he goes to his seat, other students looking at him. "I've had a great morning with great company."

Scath chuckles. "Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but you're gonna need to go to your classes this time you know. No skipping out to go to your dorm and sleep." Bricriu lets out a long sigh and Scath chuckles again. "Yes. I am going to bug you the entire time you are in my class. And no, you shouldn't take it personally."

Bricriu can't help but smile at his jokes. "Alright, now get out a pencil and paper." Scath continues. "We are doing a free write today."

Bricriu's eyes light up. "Awesome!" He reaches for his satchel and gets out paper and a pencil as the other students file in. Minutes later the first bell rings and Scath begins the class by telling everyone it's a free write day.

Jade cheers the loudest from his seat. "EASY DAY!" He then pulls out a paper and then leans back in his seat, relaxing.

Bricriu glares at him, but then sighs and returns to writing his story, working on it for the whole class, letting his mind pour freely onto the page.

At the end of class Bricriu hands in his paper and smiles, holding his satchel as he walks out. Scath returns the smile and calls. "Have a good day class!" Most of the class call back "You too." While Bricriu hurries on to his next class, Scath takes out Bricriu's paper and quickly scans it.

"Woah" He whispers, then smiles warmly and puts the paper down. As the next students walk in he bows his head to each until Cloud walks in, looking down at the ground.

Scath clears his throat and she looks up at him. "Something wrong?" She asks. Scath doesn't answer, only holding out the paper for her with a sly smile.

Cloud frowns and takes the paper, going to her seat and reading it. As she does, her frown shifts into a look of confusion, then of surprise, then a very soft blush. She shoves the paper into her satchel and puts her head down on the desk, her mind racing.

At lunch, Bricriu goes to the bench and patiently waits for Cloud, nibbling on chicken as he looks back and forth for her distinct horn pattern. Looking to the left, he sighs and looks down at his chicken.

Only for Cloud to somehow appear in front of him. "The fuck is this!?" She shouts angrily.

Bricriu jumps so hard his chicken falls onto the ground. As he is whining, Cloud pulls the paper out of her satchel and shoves it in Bricriu's face. "Explain. Now!"

Bricriu looks at the paper in surprise. "I wrote this for Language arts today." He looks up at her. "How did you get this?"

"Scath gave it to me." She sits down beside Bricriu. "Explain this bit." She points with one talon.

Bricriu reads over the part. "You mean when the main character is ready to take on an army for his lover, who is trapped in the tower?"

"In the name of the ancestors! Do you think I'm a moron!?" She jabs Bricriu in the side with her paw, snatching the paper away. "The girl's name is Claudia. The boy's name is Ben. The boy has powers bestowed upon him by some magic dragon. Do you think i don't notice the similarities there!?"

"Okay, okay!" Bricriu looks around at some of the faces staring at them with a nervous smile. "You're drawing a lot of attention, Cloud. Please take a deep breath, relax, and get some food."

Surprisingly, Cloud does all three of those things, breathing in and out and whispering harshly. "Fine," before stalking off to get her lunch.

Bricriu sighs as he picks up his chicken, only to look up and come face to face with Jade. Startled so much that he drops the chicken again, Bricriu groans. "What do you want?"

"An apology." Jade answers, which only makes Bricriu scoff and reach for the chicken again. Growling angrily, Jade smacks the piece of cooked meat away and steps on Bricriu's paw, making him yelp in pain.

"Listen Bric-head." Jade growls as he presses his claws against Bricriu's scales. "You were cool when you were my friend, but now you're a nuisance. And I don't like those."

Bricriu pulls his paw away and Jade steps back, glaring. "You best learn that you're either with me or against me." He says, turning his back to Bricriu. "Oh, and Coral says you're a pussy." He then walks back to his table, sitting with his back to Bricriu.

Bricriu gently holds his paw as Cloud returns. "I saw the very end there. Why didn't you fight back!?" Cloud hisses angrily, sitting down with Bricriu and taking a bite of her pork.

"Fight him?" Bricriu gingerly puts his paw down. "I'm not a fighter. I don't know how to use this body all to effectively yet. All I do know is that I can breathe and inject poison. And I doubt anyone would be happy with me killing a student."

Cloud scoffs and eats, and Bricriu sighs and closes his eyes, rubbing his temples. "You'd be surprised what kinda stuff goes down here, Bricriu." Cloud mutters, and Bricriu nods slowly.

After a few minutes of eating in silence, Bricriu gently nudges Cloud. "So how has your day been?" He asks with a small, friendly smile.

Cloud blinks, then shrugs. "Normal." She continues to eat and Bricriu nods his head a little.

"Even with your best friend getting attacked by his-and-your ex friend?" Bricriu smirks and Cloud huffs. "Okay, okay. You don't need to answer."

Cloud sighs and just focuses on eating, and Bricriu does the same. Once they're both done, Bricriu takes their plates and takes them back to the kitchen for washing and re-use. "Think I can walk you to your next class?" He asks as he walks back to her and she nods. Without another word, they walk out of the cafeteria and head outside to another courtyard.

Cloud turns to Bricriu and smiles. "Here we are. Hunting class." She sits down by the wall as the bell rings. "You should get going to your class now."

Bricriu nods and gives her a small wave before heading out. He pauses as he reaches the stairs and, realizing he doesn't remember his next class, he finds his schedule in his satchel and pulls it out.

"Language Arts, Flight, Science, Math, Hunting... Oh!" Grinning wide, he puts the paper away and picks up the satchel, walking back to the courtyard and sitting down next to Cloud.

She blinks in surprise. "You alright? Don't tell me you don't know what your next class is."

Bricriu smirks wide. "Sure." He hands her his schedule and then stares up at the sky and the clouds.

Blinking again in confusion, Cloud reads over the paper and then snorts out a little laugh. "Oh, I see." She hands him back his paper and then shrugs. "Alright. Can't wait to see you in action."

Bricriu frowns a little. "W... Wait... We aren't actually... Hunting animals, correct?"

Cloud shakes her head. "They're just magical constructs, like the ones in the combat room. Don't go passing out again, pleeeaseeeee."

Bricriu sighs and whispers. "Am I ever gonna live that down?" Cloud responds with a happy "Nope!" and he sighs again. "Thought so."

Suddenly the large blue dragon walks through the doorway and calls out. "Class, gather up! Today's a team activity!" A few people cheer while others groan. Cloud is one of the groaners. "Everyone pair up, and if you don't have a partner talk with me!"

Frowning, Bricriu looks at Cloud. "Can I partner up with you?"

Cloud returns the frown. "You don't know how to fly, right?" Bricriu nods. "You should tell Led then... We usually hunt by dive bombing the enemy."

Bricriu gulps and heads to the teacher. "S-Sir?" He asks nervously and Led looks at him. Before he can speak, Led interrupts him.

"My name is not sir. Say my name please."

Bricriu blinks in surprise and starts again. "Led, I don't know how to fly yet. Can I still participate?"

Led nods in understanding. "Is this your first hunting class you have ever been in?" Bricriu nods and Led sighs, then continues in a disappointed tone. "I will give your team an advantage... Will you be partnered with Cloud?" Bricriu nods again and then pales a little when he realizes that he never had Cloud agree to that. "Very well. She usually doesn't have a partner anyways."

Bricriu huffs softly and looks at Cloud, then walks over to her. "We're partnered up. He said he would give us a bit of an advantage." Cloud frowns, but Bricriu continues. "What are we hunting?"

Led speaks up, addressing the class and interrupting Cloud. "Alright class, today we shall be hunting sheep. Everyone to the starting line." Confused, Bricriu walks with Cloud to the line just at the edge of courtyard. "Now then, it has come to my attention that one of our students does not know how to fly. Their team shall get a minute head start to chase their herd off, then the rest of you can deal with the madness of finding your own herd. Cloud's team, step forward."

Blushing bright, Cloud steps forward with Bricriu. Many of the students snicker at them, but Bricriu ignores it. "One minute. Ready?" They nod. "Go!" Bricriu and Cloud both take off running at full speed into a large clearing.

In a puff of smoke, twelve sheep appear in the center of the clearing and lean down to nibble on the grass. Seeing them first, Cloud takes off into the air and dives at two which are close together, leaving the rest to scatter.

Bricriu catches up and looks at her as she bites down into each of their necks. They go limp and poof away. "Don't just stand there!" She screeches at him. "Go after them!"

Bricriu sputters. "Shouldn't we set up a trap or something for them?"

Cloud scoffs. "We don't have time for that, unless you can make a trap in fifteen seconds!" She flies after the one sheep who decided to run across the clearing instead of running into the strange mushroom forest.

Bricriu blinks, then scans through the mushrooms until he spots three sheep still running together. He runs after them, but as they slow down he slows down.

The sounds of many more frightened sheep come from other clearings around him, but his team's sheep don't seem to mind the noise, as if they can't hear it. Getting as low as he can, Bricriu stalks up to them, until an idea pops into his head.

Looking down at the ground, Bricriu quietly spits up his blue elixir, spreading it around the earth between two mushrooms and just behind a large crowd of hedges. Then, as quickly as he dares, he circles around the three sheep.

Once he is directly across from his trap, with the sheep in between, he leaps at the closest one and sinks his claws into it, pinning it to the ground. It struggles wildly underneath him and makes painful grunting sounds, making pangs of guilt lance through Bricriu's heart.

Meanwhile, the two other sheep leap away from him, over the bushes, and their hoofs sink right into the elixir, leaving them wriggling as they try to move.

Bricriu looks up and laughs at his success, only for the sheep under him to kick him right in the gut. Grunting, he lets go and the sheep runs off into the forest before he can grab it again. "Damn!" He watches it run, then goes up to the two sheep that are stuck. Frowning as he does so, he stabs both of them with his tail blade, watching as the poison kills them and then they poof away.

He then spits a drop of acid onto the elixir and watches it melt away as well. Nodding in approval, he walks in the direction the sheep ran in.

He spots the sheep among the mushrooms, but as he does so a loud whistle is blown from back at the temple, and the sheep poofs away. Confused, Bricriu walks out of the forest and sees most of the class heading back to the courtyard.

Bricriu runs to catch up with them, and he hears Led listing off the teams. His tail wags a little in excitement as he walks up to Cloud. "How'd we do?"

Cloud shrugs. "He hasn't said yet."

"And finally, Cloud's group!" Cloud and Bricriu both look at him hopefully. "Seven sheep, two of which were ruined." Led glares at Bricriu. "Poisoning our food? Are you trying to kill us?"

Bricriu blinks in confusion as the class laughs and Cloud looks appalled. A flush of anger rushes through him. "You didn't tell me the rules and regulations of this game! How was I supposed to know that we are not to use our element?!"

Led steps forward and glares down at Bricriu. "Are you raising your voice against a te-"

"OH don't give me that!" Bricriu interrupts, making Led blink in surprise. Grasping his momentum, Bricriu continues. "You think that just because I poisoned Fake sheep that gives you a right to embarrass my team? I worked hard to lay a trap for those sheep, and I didn't want to be forced to kill them with my claws so I use my tail. My tail automatically poisons things when I stab them, as you know! I'm at a disadvantage compared to the others. I demand you count those kills!"

Suddenly Led's paw strikes out. Bricriu grunts in surprise as he is slapped across the face and the class as a whole gasps loudly. "How dare you raise your voice against a teacher! How dare you to demand a Guardian to do what you ask!" Bricriu stares up at Led in anger and fear, and Led glares back down. "You will spend your dinner here, and until you learn how to Truly hunt you will come here for Every dinner." He then leans down and whispers. "Now get the fuck out of my sight." Bricriu takes a step back, and as everyone else watches him, he grabs his satchel and walks out of the courtyard, into the temple.

Once the bell rings a few minutes later, people give him a wide berth as he stands alone in the hallway. He keeps an emotionless look on his face as he waits for them all to leave him alone. Then, as they forget him, he moves, continuing on to his next class.

Cloud walks up behind him, and he can tell by a single look back to her that she's worried about him. "Don't worry. I'm fine." He smiles warmly at her. "This place is just... it's more barbaric than I thought."

Cloud raises an eyebrow in confusion and Bricriu elaborates. "Back in my world, teachers never were allowed to hit their students. We have laws to avoid conflict, but here." He glances around. "I dunno, it's obvious that this world is quite a bit behind when it comes to technology and etiquette, but still I would expect some guards to be here at the school to protect the students."

Cloud blinks and shakes her head. "We don't need guards. The GUARDians are here to protect us and the temple."

"See, but that's just a bad idea. What if the guardians are sick or injured? Who will step up? A student? That's just asking for trouble." Bricriu sighs. "This entire thing just sounds like a Terrible idea, through and through. This place needs to be more heavily guarded if it's going to be the school of all the dragons of the next generation, don't you think?"

"Bricriu, there is no one here who would dare to attack the dragon temple." Cloud stands in front of him. "How much do you know of what happened here, huh?"

Bricriu blinks in confusion. "My history class is my next class... Why?"

Cloud sighs. "The only evil that could have ever destroyed the dragons was vanquished long ago by heroes of legend. There is nothing that left that can stand against the guardians anymore." She pauses. "We are basically on top of the food chain at this point."

Bricriu blinks again. "That sounds very very unrealistic." Cloud glares and Bricriu flinches. "It's true! You can't destroy evil, it's in everyone. Some people just have more good in them than evil."

"It's the best way to make sure the strongest dragons are the ones who lead us." Cloud states matter-of-factly. "Those who can prove themselves via their grades are chosen to be the next guardians, which makes sure that whoever is in charge is powerful. It's how it has been and always will be."

Cloud begins walking faster, and Bricriu speeds up to keep up with her. "So I guess you'll have to eat dinner alone for a while." Bricriu says, changing the subject.

Cloud nods a little. "I suppose so." She looks back over her shoulder and Bricriu smiles warmly at her. She rolls her eyes and asks sarcastically. "Do you Ever stop smiling?"

"Only when I'm not around you, apparently." Bricriu says with a laugh, and Cloud giggles. "Anyways, c'mon, we gotta hurry. What's your next class?" She pulls out her schedule out of her satchel and Bricriu steps closer to look over her shoulder. "Infernar. Alright, let's go!" Cloud puts the schedule and steps away from Bricriu. Bricriu immediately responds with stepping close again. A swift smack with Cloud's wing pushes Bricriu back.

Cloud hisses at him. "Remember, we are not supposed to be together-together!" Bricriu frowns, but nods and steps away. Cloud speeds up and Bricriu copies it.

Nearing the door, both Cloud and Bricriu frown softly as Jade walks from the opposite direction. With a small scowl at them both, Jade cuts them off from the doorway and walks inside. Cloud growls low at him while Bricriu simply sighs. "Alright. Be safe." Bricriu says softly and Cloud nods.

"You too." She answers and heads inside. Bricriu quickly rushes down the long hallway to his next class with Lason.

 **Now keeping in mind I have never actually played Eternal Night or A New Beginning, I am going to need to check those out before I do the "History" class I am planning. Till then, I hope you all enjoyed this! See you then!**


	5. Snake in the Grass

**I plan on working on this HARDCORE throughout summer to make up for my long break over spring. By the way I am still so sorry about that! I am so amazed I already have followers thanks to this story and I don't want to let yall down! 3**

As Bricriu walks into Lason's classroom he can't help but notice that all eyes are on him. With a small gulp, Bricriu looks at Lason. "Where do you want me to sit?" He asks tentatively.

Lason glances at the seating chart on his desk and points to the back row, smack in the middle. Bricriu nods and quickly walks over to it, ignoring everyone else's gaze.

As he sits down Lason begins his class, talking about the past five hundred years of the Realm. The students around Bricriu focus on Lason, and Bricriu lets out a soft sigh of relief.

"Something wrong Bricriu?" Lason immediately pipes up, completely stone faced.

Bricriu sits up a little straighter and looks at Lason. "N-Nope!" He stutters a little, then smiles happily. "Just breathing."

"An important thing to do." Lason comments, then turns to the board. Many of the students snicker and Bricriu shifts uncomfortably in his seat. "Anyways, as I was saying, the most exciting part of history has mostly occurred in the last two hundred years. Exciting because, as I'm sure you all know, it was the start and end of Malefor's War."

Bricriu blinks in surprise and pays close attention as Lason continues. "Spyro and Cynder worked together to destroy Malefor and sacrificed themselves to bring the world back together after Malefor attempted to destroy it. Many heroes came later, stopping Malefor's many attempt at resurrection, until finally we found and destroyed his last altar. His soul is lost to time, and he shall never return again."

Bricriu writes down shorthand notes as Lason continues. "As you can see, society has easily recovered from the evil. Warfang has flourished, and many dragons are living outside the city walls, as there are no longer any threats to our country. Truly, we are living in quite the golden age." Bricriu frowns as he writes that down.

"Now then, take out your textbooks. I want you all to read section seven today and answer the questions at the end. What you don't complete will be homework." He smiles. "And this is a one-dragon-assignment, so I am expecting no talking."

Bricriu raises his paw and Lason looks at him with a small nod. "I don't have a textbook."

"Right at the door Bricriu. Should have grabbed it when you walked in." Lason smiles wider, but his smile doesn't seem real. "Walk of shame then."

With his head held as high as he can make it without it being obvious, Bricriu walks to the front desk and grabs a textbook, taking it back to his desk and opening it to section seven, getting to work with the reading.

Half the page is torn out and many of the words are scribbled out, but at least the answers are already circled at the end of the section. Sighing softly, he writes down all the answers he believes are correct, leaving any prior knowledge questions completely blank.

Once finished, he calmly moves his papers to the side, shuts the book, and lays his head down with a soft sigh, one paw twitching as he finally begins to feel the effects of phone withdrawal.

As the bell rings he quickly stands up and walks out to the class door, hoping to find the combat room once again before the next bell.

Lason quickly puts a stop to that plan. "Bricriu, come here please." Bricriu looks at him and quickly pads over. "Why are these answers blank?"

Bricriu blinks and shrugs. "I didn't know them sir. Not my fault." Lason frowns a little at that, but nods. "I wanted to ask you something though. Why is it you called the time we live in a golden age?"

Lason frowns deeper at that. "Well, because it is. Society is at its peak currently. We are flourishing, and without the Malefor's influence crime is at an all time low."

"So one dragon's death can make everything peachy keen? That sounds a little unrealistic... My tea-" Bricriu pauses." My parents always said that you only know the "golden ages" happened when they are gone. So can you really say we live in a golden age when you don't know if things will get better or worse?"

Lason thinks about it with a frown, then smiles. "Ah, I see your thinking. I like your tea- parents philosophy." Bricriu chuckles nervously as Lason continues. "I truly would like to meet them. Anyways, would you like a hall pass? Obviously you won't make it to combat training on time." Bricriu nods and smiles as Lason gets out a piece of paper and writes down the pass on it.

Bricriu takes it with a thanks and walks out, quickly making his way through the temple to the combat room.

Stepping inside the large room, Bricriu is surprised to see a large line of dragons standing near the doorway. Confused, he gently taps one of them on the shoulder and asks. "What's going on?"

The dragon smirks and steps aside, letting Bricriu see two dragons locked in combat. His heart sinks for a moment and he whispers with a small hiss. "Why has no one stopped them?!"

The dragon barks in laughter. "Cause it's a training fight? Duh?" Bricriu blinks and glances around. He spots Damean near the controls and quickly walks toward him.

Damean look away from the fight as he approaches and smiles warmly. "Heyo Bricriu. You're late." Bricriu hands him the slip and Damean reads it then nods. "Ah, that'll do. Well, do you need anything?"

Bricriu gestures with a nod to the fight. "What's going on?" Currently one of the dragons is struggling to push away the dragon on top of him.

"It's a mock fight. Everyone has to do it once a month, though you can do it more often if you choose." Damean smiles. "If you want, I can spawn a dummy for you while I watch this."

"Can I practice my poison? I am really excited about that!" Damean nods and spawns a dummy well away from the rest of the dragons. Bricriu quickly pads over to it.

Bricriu takes a small moment to gather his breath before opening his mouth and launching a ball of acid at the dummy's face. He smiles happily at the small achievement, and spits the blue elixir onto the dummy's chest.

Slowly the head is eaten away, but as the acid reaches his elixir it seems to divert course, eating the blue instead of the dummy. After about a minute, the dummy poofs away, as both the acid and the elixir are gone.

Giggling happily, Bricriu goes back to Damean. "I need more than one dummy please."

"Hold on." Damean says as he watches the fight closely. The dragon who was on top is now pinned from behind, his head kept down as the other dragon's tailblade presses to his neck.

The crowd counts. "One! Two! Three!" They break out in cheers and the two dragons back away, smiling as they pant. They bow to each other and then laugh.

"Well done Sevan!" Damean calls. "Hielo, better luck next time!" The losing dragon nods but keeps his happy smile as they walk to the crowd. It parts for them to get past and someone hands them two drinks. "Now who's next?"

A blue scaled dragoness steps forward. "I want an element challenge!" Damean nods and pulls a switch. Crystals that seem to be made out of jade spawn in a large box around her. "And my opponent shall be Cloud, should she be willing!"

Bricriu blinks in surprise as Cloud steps out of the crowd, along with a few 'ooooo's of excitement from the crowd. "An elemental battle?" Bricriu mutters to Damean. "What does that mean?"

Damean says nothing and instead presses a button as Cloud stands within box. The crystals glow a pale green and green lightning chains appear from them, a large square ring around the two combatants. "Coral, come referee. I need to do something." Coral walks up to stand, giving Bricriu a little smirk as she stands at the controls. Damean then walks away from the controls along with a confused Bricriu.

Damean hums softly as he walks up to a panel on the wall and opens it. "These are the individual controls, for those who want to practice on their own. Come here and let me show you how they work." Bricriu steps forward and watches closely as Damean shows him the buttons for spawning a dummy and changing its actions.

"And to get it to disappear on your own, press the red button." Bricriu nods in understanding and smiles at Damean. Damean smiles back. "I'll leave you to it then. Good luck." He walks back to his control panel as cheers erupt from the crowd. "Cloud wins!"

Bricriu smiles a little and then turns back to his own control panel and spawns a dummy.

He spends the next fifteen minutes killing dummies over and over, experimenting with his poisons. He learns several new tricks and practices a few other moves he sees some dragons doing, taking only a moment's break at ten minutes to keep from feeling too dizzy.

Taking a big deep breath, he pictures in his mind stabbing the dummy, only this time instead of it melting away into a large puddle of acid, he pictures its eyes closing and it falling over in a peaceful nap. He then sinks his needle into the dummy and watches as the now dark green poison seeps into it.

The dummy, as if it was alive, stumbles while holding its head. Bricriu backs up, his eyes wide in shock, as the dummy falls to its knees and lays on its belly in front of him. After a few moments, large Z's begin rising from its mouth, its chest expanding and shrinking in time with each Z.

Bricriu blinks in surprise and pokes one of the Z's, letting out a squeak of surprise as it poofs away. "It's asleep? Cool!" He says.

The dummy's false eyes pop open and it gets to its feet, then looks around and then goes back to being a dummy. Bricriu chuckles a little at it, then decides to put it down.

As he puts a drop of acid on the dummy, Damean walks over. "Bricriu, careful. You need a green crystal. You're using a lot of elemental energy." Bricriu looks at him and Damean hands him a crystal.

Bricriu blinks. "So, crush this like I did at the infirmary?" Damean nods and Bricriu does so, watching the shards disappear. "Huh... Neat."

"You have to make sure you always keep your elemental energy high. You run low and you become sluggish and sleepy. Sleeping will also replenish it, but it's not the best thing to do in combat, you know." Bricriu grins and nods. "How goes your practicing?"

"It's going great!" Bricriu says with a happy smile, his tail wagging low behind him. "I've been watching others and doing what they're doing, not to mention I learned a few tricks on my own."

"Really?" Damean grins. "Well maybe you can show me?" Bricriu nods and moves to turn towards the dummy, but then Jade walks up.

"Damean, I want to do my fight for the month." Jade says with a grin on his face, his friends standing on either side of him.

Damean blinks, then smiles. "Alright. Got any challengers in mind?"

Jade's grin widens and his friends snicker. "Yeah. Bricriu."

Bricriu frowns. "Are you seriously challenging me over the fact I told you to go eat a sock?"

Jade huffs. "Sure, you bald moron. Let's go with that." He looks at Damean. "Well, will you allow it?"

Damean glares at him. "First of all, no name calling." Jade rolls his eyes and Damean's glare becomes more intense. "Second of all, that's up to Bricriu if he's willing to accept or not." He and Jade both look at Bricriu.

Bricriu frowns deeper. "I dunno if I'm really ready for that, Damean." Damean nods in understanding.

Jade scoffs and says. "Pussy," before walking away. Bricriu growls at him, but Damean shakes his head.

"You were right to avoid the fight. You're far from prepared to fight Jade. Stay here a moment." Damean walks back to the crowd. "Oscur? Can you come here please?" A black dragon looks up and walks out of the crowd. "Would you like to help Bricriu here with some combat training till the end of class?"

Oscur nods happily. "Yes sir!"

Damean turns back to Bricriu and explains. "Oscur here is wanting to become the next guardian who teaches combat." He smiles. "You'll train with him." Damean then turns to Oscur. "Tell me what you plan."

Oscur hums softly. "I've never seen this dragon before, so I might start with the basics, asking him what moves he knows." Oscur looks at Bricriu.

Bricriu blinks, then realizes. "Oh! Um... I don't really know any moves... I uh... Was never really taught how to fight."

Oscur nods. "Then we will go over the very basics."

"How is it you were never taught to fight Bricriu?" Damean asks. "Surely your parents were worried?"

Bricriu shakes his head. "Nah. When you live out in the middle of nowhere with the closest living creature being a crazy old man in some cave, you don't really worry about too many things coming to get you or attack you." He praises his brain for coming up with that on the spot.

Damean and Oscur both blink, then Oscur shrugs. "Either way, it will help me in training with the basics, since many dragons are homeschooled on them." Damean looks at Oscur and nods, then nods to Bricriu and walks away. Oscur looks at Bricriu. "So, first we will go over combat stance and maintaining balance."

After another fifteen minutes of practicing holding himself correctly and taking small slashes at the air with his claws, the bell rings. Oscur smiles at him. "You've got no bad habits, but make sure you watch your tail. What with its length, you're bound to injure it. Just watch it though, and hopefully it won't happen." Bricriu nods. "Alright. See you later." Oscur grabs his satchel and walks out.

Bricriu walks to grab his own satchel, but stops as he sees a note on it. Confused, he carefully picks up the small piece of paper and reads it. 'We'll see how weak you are later, Bric' Bricriu's eyes widen, and he quickly grabs his pack and rushes out the door. Keeping with the crowd, he watches on all sides of him, making sure he keeps an eye out for anyone looking at him.

His art class with Gale is a blur, as he barely manages to pay attention to the art, and he was never really good at art in the first place. He hands in a stick figure picture of some trees and walks out the door as fast as he can, ignoring Gale's exclaimed cry of annoyance.

He quickly walks past everyone heading to the cafeteria for dinner and goes into Scath's classroom. Scath blinks in surprise and asks. "Aren't you in detention with Led?"

"I'll go later. Right now I need your help." Bricriu puts the note down on Scath's desk. Scath picks it up and frowns as he reads it. "I know a threat when I see on Scath. This has happened before. I seem to have a great freaking knack for making Frienemies, and Jade has just become one. I get the feeling I'm going to be jumped on my way to detention. Can you guard me?"

Scath blinks in surprise, then nods. "Sure, I can walk with you to Led's. But if we spot Jade waiting for you, talk to him. Trust me."

Bricriu frowns, but nods and takes the note back. "Okay." Scath stands up from his desk and follows Bricriu out of the classroom and down the temple halls to the hunting fields.

As they come down the stairs, Bricriu looks ahead. "There!" Scath stops at the stairway and asks. "What? Is Jade there?" Bricriu nods a little as he stares at Jade sitting next to the wall, looking away purposefully.

Scath sighs. "I was hoping he wouldn't try... Alright. Hold still." Scath sinks into the shadows and leaps into Bricriu's, startling the green dragon. "Stay calm!" Scath hisses from beneath him. "Just walk ahead, don't make any sudden movements, and I will remain hidden. We will see if Jade attacks you."

Bricriu gulps but nods, walking forward slowly. "Stop looking down please." Scath mutters and Bricriu looks up to see Jade watching him, his face emotionless.

Bricriu speeds up a little, and moves to walk past Jade, but Jade shouts. "What's the rush? Worried you'll be late for dinner or something?" He grins as he walks up to Bricriu. "Maybe late for your detention?"

Bricriu shakes his head. "What are you doing here? How'd you know I was in detention?" He takes a step back away from Jade, but Jade stops where he is.

"Oh, I was just talking to my friends about it." He grins wider. "I have a lot of friends after all, Friend."

"I'm not sure I'm going to be your friend if you do what you plan." Bricriu mutters as he holds the note up.

"Ah yes, so sorry. But I don't like cowards. But don't worry, you can make up for your cowardice here and now. No refs, just us." Jade holds up a claw. "Let's go."

Bricriu shakes his head. "I won't fight you Jade." He turns to walk to Led, but a big earth dragon stands in his way, holding its wings out and blocking his path.

Jade snickers as a fear dragon and a lightning dragon both stand behind him, and they block that way as well. "I dunno. Don't look like you have a choice. C'mon Bric-brain." He crouches down and Bricriu recognizes a pounce is coming. "Let's dance!"

Just as Jade lunges forward, Scath leaps out of Bricriu's shadow and he slams into Jade, sending him into the fear dragon. "That's Enough!" Scath orders and the other dragons that were blocking now stand paralyzed as Scath looks down at Jade.

Jade scrambles to his feet and stares at the shadow dragon in confusion. "How fucking long have you been there?!" Scath responds by coldly glaring at Jade, making Jade's anger turn to fear and he shuts up.

"Bricriu came to me with a note that you wrote. I would recommend in the future you don't write down stuff that can be used as evidence against you." Jade looks at Bricriu and growls as he bares his teeth. "Now I see that you two will need to be separated. Get up. You and I are going to the pool, where your punishment will be decided. Understood?" Jade nods and rolls to his feet. Scath looks at the Earth dragon. "Diqiu, yes?" He nods. "Go get Led." He nods again and walks away quickly.

As Scath turns around to help the dragon he injured saving Bricriu, Jade crouches and pounces at Bricriu, screaming. "YOU'RE JUST A LOWLY SNAKE!" Bricriu shrieks with panic and ducks his head, his tail stabbing over his shoulder just like he has practiced in the combat room countless times before.

The syringe blade strikes home right in Jade's paw as he brings it down to slash Bricriu's head, stopping the attack dead in its tracks. Jade cries out and falls flat on his back as Bricriu pulls the blade out and backs away quickly from Jade, who is holding his paw. "You poisoned me!" Jade screams as he holds his paw. "I'm going to die! I don't want to die!"

Scath rushes to Jade's side and looks at the fear and lightning dragons. "Go get Lason, Now!" They nod and run away. "Bricriu, what did you do?!"

"He attacked me!" Bricriu points out quickly.

"Did you put acid into him or poison?" Scath snarls, obviously concerned for Jade's safety as Jade groans and holds his paw.

"K-Knockout poison!" Bricriu stutters and Scath looks at him in surprise, then shakes his head. "Why, does it only work on the dummies?!"

"I doubt it was knockout. It takes training to do that. Lason better get here fast." Scath looks around urgently as Jade slumps over. "Hang in there Jade." He mutters.

Lason comes running down the hallway and quickly shoves Scath out of the way. He grabs Jade's paw and bites into it, then with a loud sucking noise slurps out his blood as well as some of the poison. Lason's eyes widen as he spits the first amount onto the ground and he looks at Scath. "It's not deadly." He says in shock, then looks at Bricriu. Scath does the same.

Bricriu blinks in confusion. "What? I changed the poison... is.. Is that rare?"

Scath mutters. "It takes training to do... Usually... Lason, you take Jade to the infirmiry, I will take Bricriu to the scrying pool. Meet me there with the others." Led comes running up with Diqiu, but Scath stop him. "Just come with me Led. We need to talk about Bricriu." Led glares at Bricriu and nods, walking to Jade and helping to put the unconcious dragon onto Lason's back. "Come on Bricriu. You're not in trouble." Bricriu gulps as he follows Jade to the scrying pool, where he sits and waits with Scath for the other Guardians.

Soon the other guardians file in and all eyes are on Bricriu. After a long moment of silence, Scath speaks up and explains to the others. "Jade was attempting to attack Bricriu for what I can only assume was simply due to Bricriu being new and confused at the school. During the attack, Bricriu managed to poison Jade." Many of the guardians gasp. "But Lason and I found that the poison was not deadly. Bricriu had managed, all on his own I assume?" Damean nods. "To figure out how to convert his poison from acidic to.. Whatever Lason calls it."

The dragons all look at each other and murmur amongst themselves, leaving Bricriu to look down and hope for a light punishment. "Bricriu?" He looks up at Gale as she asks. "How did you learn to do this?"

"I-I-I." Bricriu licks his lips and takes a breath. "I just kind of... Think about it and it happens... Like, if I want acid, I think of Acid, and my poison comes out acid." More murmuring amongst the dragons, and Bricriu whimpers fearfully.

"Don't worry Bricriu." Gale says reassuringly. "It's just... You're a very unusual dragon. For most, a dragon requires to be in tune with his body, to understand it fully, to be able to change its power, but you were able to do it with a mere thought. Such things are very, very rare."

"It could explain why you can't fly." Fulma pipes up. "Maybe you don't need to be in tune, and connected, maybe you just need to think about flying?"

Bricriu blinks. "You think I can fly?" Fulma smiles sweetly at him and nods, and he smiles. "I'd love to try."

Scath smiles at him. "Firstly, let's get you some dinner, then tomorrow Fulma will set aside some time to teach you during... let's go with lunch?" Fulma and Bricriu both nod happily. "Bricriu, you are free to go."

Bricriu nods and waves goodbye with a paw to all of the guardians, walking out of the scrying pool with a cheerful skip in his step. As the doors shut behind him, Lason turns to his fellows and mutters. "Can we confirm our theory yet?"

Gale shakes her head. "Unfortunately no. But it's got a lot of evidence... We need to keep watching him. Infernar, would you like to go get Jade's parents tomorrow? We will talk to them about what happened." Infernar nods. "Keep eyes on Jade too. I don't want him injuring Bricriu. He may be very, very crucial."

 **Alright, next chapter done... My chapters are getting shorter... I don't like it. I need to incorporate more feelings into my writing, but I don't know how to explain the smells or tastes or feel of the temple. Either way, I hope you guys like this on. I hope next one can be out by August and then... I dunno.**

 **ALSO Can I get your guys' input on how I jump around? Should I do something about it, try and transition better, or are you guys okay with how it jumps?**


	6. An Almost Normal Day

**Another boring chapter while I try and get on with the things and the stuff... sorry everyone who's reading. I really need to step up my game and get off my ass.**

Bricriu waltzed out of his room with a happy little spring in his step, his worries from yesterday completely gone. With Jade being separated from him in all his classes, he can see no reason to not celebrate, even if it is internally.

He comes to the dining hall a little earlier than the first bell and manages to snag the eggs and bacon while they're still piping hot and delicious. He devours it as the bell finally rings and students begin flooding in. This time, he doesn't bother trying to see Cloud in the sea of dragons and instead focuses on how he is going to fly.

He experiments for a moment, flapping one wing and then the other, smiling nervously as some dragons give him a confused look. Putting his paws gently on the table, he flaps both at the same time, then winces as he slams his left wing into the side.

A girl giggles behind him and he turns, hoping to see Cloud. His hope is dashed quickly as he looks at Coral with a glare. "Oh don't look so mad." Coral says as she is flanked on both sides by the lightning and fear dragons that had stood by when Jade attacked. Bricriu watches them closely.

The lightning dragon is the first to speak. "The guardians said we had to apologize for helping Jade. They let us off easy since we were only... 'bystanders'" The fear dragon nods and the lightning one continues. "So... We're sorry."

Bricriu looks at them for a long moment, then shrugs and smiles warmly. "Apology accepted. Want to eat breakfast with me?" He gestures to the empty table.

The three dragons blink practically in unison. "You'll forgive them that easily?"

Bricriu shrugs again. "Sure, why not? Not like they did anything in the fight, and I can only assume that Jade had something to actually inspire them to do what they did." He grins. "That is unless they're just in for the fun, which I can understand as well."

"You..." Coral begins, and the other dragons look to her. "You are the weirdest fucking dragon I have ever met." She smiles and sits down. The other two shrug and sit across from him.

"No, I'm just more logically thinking than most, it seems." Bricriu explains what happened yesterday, and how his element control is different to the others.

"So basically I control my element with my mind more than instinct. Apparently" Bricriu finishes.

"That's impressive." Coral says. "So you're even weirder than I thought you were?" Bricriu scoffs but nods. "Maybe you could have won against Jade. He's good, but not that good."

"He did beat him though." The fear dragon pipes up finally and looks Bricriu in the eyes. "One quick jab with your tail blade and he was out like a light. I can respect that."

"Oh c'mon Otti, it wasn't a planned move!" The lightning dragon grins. "That was one hundred percent luck." Bricriu shifts a little uncomfortably. "See?"

Otti glares. "If it was, how is it that he planned ahead to put Jade to sleep instead? It was skill, Lysing."

"Yeah, but the needle in the paw was pure luck. He was aiming for the neck. If he hadn't hit the paw, he would have gotten slashed easy." Lysing grins wider. "Luck."

"Skill."

"Luck!"

"Skill!"

Bricriu turns to Coral as they continue to bicker. "Are they always like this?"

Coral shrugs. "They're like brothers to one another. Their dads both work for the same company, and they're good friends."

Bricriu grins "Well, they certainly get along like brothers." Coral grins back as Lysing suddenly jabs Otti in the chest. Otti yelps, more surprised than hurt, then grabs Lysing by the shoulders and throws him to the ground. Everyone at the table laughs, but Otti's laugh is cut short as Lysing zaps him with electricity.

Coral and Bricriu quickly back away, but continue laughing as Otti is pulled back and they begin rolling around on the ground slapping and punching each other, but not enough for any of the blows to hurt.

Bricriu looks around as others begin laughing at the other tables, and he blinks in surprise as he sees Cloud glaring at him from the cafeteria door. When she realizes he sees her, her glare only grows stronger.

Bricriu whimpers softly and looks at Coral. "I guess I will see you later?" Coral stops laughing after a moment and looks at him, then looks over and sees Cloud. She glares at the wind dragoness and mutters. "Guess so. See you later Bricriu." Bricriu quickly walks to Cloud.

Cloud turns and walks out of the cafeteria, and Bricriu follows her. "What's wrong?" He asks as he catches up with her, weaving through the small groups of students standing in the halls.

She says nothing and Bricriu frowns, keeping behind her as he walks her to her class. After they reach the door he stops her gently. "What's wrong?" He asks again.

Cloud glares at him, then huffs. "It's nothing." She looks him in the eyes, then looks down at the floor. "You better get to class." She then turns around and walks into the classroom.

Bricriu watches her with a few tears in her eyes, then quickly turns and walks away without another word, walking in silence all the way to his seat in Scath's classroom. He sighs softly and puts his head down as the bell rings and Scath begins the class.

Bricriu barely manages to focus on the board, and when Scath calls on him he is forced to mutter out a quick "I don't know," while he thinks about why Cloud could have been so upset with him.

Scath frowns at the answer but notices Bricriu's sad demeanor and decides not to pester him. However, at the end of class he calls him aside. "You okay?"

Bricriu looks down and nods, blinking multiple times to hold back tears. Scath pauses, then asks quietly. "Is it Cloud?"

Bricriu pauses, then nods again. Scath nods in understanding. "Wanna talk about it?" Bricriu shakes his head. "You sure?" Bricriu pauses for a second time, then shakes his head again. Scath smiles. "If you wanna postpone the lunch flight to come here, that's okay."

Bricriu looks up at Scath and quickly says. "N-No thank you!" Scath laughs softly and nods okay. "Am I excused now?" Scath nods again and Bricriu waves, then walks out quickly. Scath frowns a little as he sits down at his desk and waits for the next class to arrive.

Fulma is waiting at the door for Bricriu, and as he walks in she smiles wide. "Helloooo!" He gives a brief wave with his wing and she smiles wider somehow. "So have you been practicing with your wings?" Bricriu nods. "Alright! Why don't you find a spot, and I will join you when I can. Who knows? Maybe we won't need that lunch lesson." Bricriu nods again and walks away to find a spot.

Once in a clear spot away from the other dragons, he lays down and watches as Fulma gives the instructions for the day to the rest of the class, with a notable absence of Jade that makes Bricriu grin just a little before a small pang of regret sets in. He lays his head gently on his forepaws and sighs softly.

Fulma walks up and frowns. "Hey, you okay?" He stands and nods as he stretches. "You sure? You seem a little crushed."

Bricriu smiles a little and mutters. "Does everyone here have psychic abilities?"

Fulma blinks. "No, there are very rarely any psychic dragons around the temple." She pauses. "Oh wait... No, it's just kinda visible in your eyes that something's got you down." Bricriu smiles a little and rolls his eyes, but Fulma does not notice. "So do you think you're ready?"

"Ready to try." Bricriu answers.

Fulma beams. "That's all I ask of any of my students." She steps back to give his wings the space they need to begin flapping.

Bricriu frowns and closes his eyes for a moment. In that brief moment, he imagines how he has seen dragons flying around, with their wings flapping up and down steadily to keep them in the air. He begins to beat his wings slowly, feeling the wind under them, focusing on getting off the ground. The wind from his wings begins to rush past his ears, sounding almost like cheers and chanting, but it's too wispy to be the other dragons

Slowly, he feels his feet leaving the ground, and as he does he opens his eyes quickly and grins wide. "Alright!" He looks back at Fulma.

She smiles back at him. "Excellent." She takes off into the air. "Now fly to me." She stops a little ways up and hovers there, watching him.

Bricriu nods a little and begins to flap his wings more, slowly bringing himself up more and more until he's at her height. He then stops and frowns. "Uhhh... how do I go forward?"

Fulma laughs. "Just lean forward a bit." Bricriu nods and leans forward, letting out a scared little squeak as his view towards the ground suddenly grows larger. "Careful! Lean too much and you'll go into a dive!"

Bricriu manages to keep from diving and instead flies right past her. He stops himself and frowns as he focuses on hovering. "And how do I turn?!"

"Flap one wing more than the other to twirl, otherwise you need to turn your whole body!" She continues in a playful tone as Bricriu carefully turns around. "See, if you were more instinctual you would know this stuff already! Smarty scales."

Bricriu laughs a little nervously before flying to her. "It's just like learning to swim, to be honest. It almost feels like it too."

"Yeah, except it's more painful when you hit the bottom when you're flying." Fulma and Bricriu laugh and smile to each other.

"You can go help the others now, if you'd like." Bricriu says calmly as he twirls in the air. "I think I got it now. It's all about physics and muscle memories."

Fulma blinks, then nods. "Alright, sure. Just be careful. I'll come help you land as soon as you're ready."

Bricriu laughs again. "I'm sure I can land just fine. Avoiding a crash is the hard part." Fulma giggles and rolls her eyes as she flies away from him.

He smiles and glances around at the other dragons, flying in lazy circles above the courtyard. Some have their tails wrapped around one another as they fly, something that other dragons will sometimes call out with teasing laughs. Others are racing at a moderate pace in circles, doing laps around the courtyard, daring to fly so low that they could easily pick up anything underneath them if they chose to.

Fulma is busy giving three dragons an assignment for the day. When she finishes talking, the students take to the air, and begin complex maneuvers in the sky. Bricriu blinks in curiosity as one of them spins, folding his wings close to his body and diving down for less than half a second, before spreading his wings and catching the air with an extra boost of speed. The others cheer him on as he turns back toward them.

Bricriu blinks for a second, then hums as he imagines himself doing that in his mind, spinning through the sky without a care, at speeds he could never reach back home as a human without a vehicle.

He then brings himself out of that day dream, and sighs as he simply focuses on slowly bringing himself back down to the ground in a safe and soft landing.

Fulma walks back over to him. "You okay?" he nods and she smiles. "Feelings of nervousness and shyness are normal after your first flight. It's okay if you wanna take a break, just don't feel embarrassed."" Bricriu nods again and she continues to smile. "I saw you looking at the others as they practiced. Don't worry about getting to their level yet, it'll come to you over time, with enough practice."

Bricriu nods a third time. "I know, but it's still nice to day dream, right?" Fulma giggles softly and nods a little before turning and flying away. Bricriu goes over to one of the benches and watches the other dragons as they fly around, learning as much as he can from sight alone, playing their motions out over and over in his mind until the bell rings and he is off to the next class.

And the next. And the next. And then lunch.

And then he goes back to Led's class. As soon as he walks into the room, he can feel the large ice dragon's gaze drilling holes into his skull to melt his brain.

"Hello Led. How are you today?" Bricriu says in a cheerful tone.

Led responds with a grunt. "Decent. Now get with your partner." Bricriu smiles and nods as he glances around. Seeing Cloud sitting at a bench and looking down at a paper, he quickly strolls over to her.

Cloud looks up from her paper and frowns. As Bricriu sits beside her, she scoots to her left. Bricriu responds by scooting to his left as well, which only makes her scoot to the edge of the bench.

Hurt, Bricriu asks. "What did I do?"

Cloud looks at him, then sighs. "Nothing. I'm sorry, I'm just... really worried."

"About?" Bricriu gently and carefully scoots close and thankfully she doesn't scoot off the bench.

"About how... how you seem to..." She sighs. "Nevermind... Have you learned to fly yet?"

Bricriu blinks, but nods. He slowly puts his wing over her as she continues. "Okay, good. Now Led wanted me to tell you about some of the things you shouldn't do, so I beli-" She stops and glares at him as soon as the wing touches her. Quickly he folds it back up. "I BELIEVE." She continues. "That he won't give us that bonus again... He has it out for you."

"No kidding." Bricriu mumbles. "I wish I knew why."

Cloud blinks, then looks down and sighs. "Alright... anyways, these are the simple rules. No killing the prey with your element, and no screwing over the other competitors. If someone else has their kill in their grip, don't run over and steal it, okay?"

Bricriu nods. "Got it. Simple enough. If only he had told me that when we started."

Led speaks up. "Alright everyone, get ready. Today you will be hunting adult male deer, also known as bucks. Now bucks are much more aggressive than deer, as you hopefully know, and as such I want you all to take extra care. Every Time a buck manages to attack any of you, your team will lose a point. As such, try to keep to the air when you are attacking." He puts extra emphasis on air, and although he keeps his gaze locked over the crowd, Bricriu knows it's directed at him.

"Other than that, remember the rules and do your best. Good luck!" He waits for everyone to get into starting positions, then gives the go. As all the other dragons take off, Bricriu starts running at first.

Led immediately shouts from the starting line. "Get in the air Bricriu!" Bricriu glares and flaps his wings, using his running momentum as extra speed to keep from having to turn, and ending up a few feet ahead of the other dragons who went up before going forward.

Led blinks in a little surprise, then hums. "A new strategy... I'll need to outlaw that..."

"I'm surprised it took so long for you to realize that." A female voice mutters behind him. Led glances behind him and sees Gale. "When you start running before flight, you take off with that extra speed. Many of the students used it before, but then the others caught on and told them to stop. Fulma says he learned to do it all on his own during lunch practice, and when asked how he just said he saw birds do it before."

Led blinks again, then glares at her. "Why was I never informed of this then?"

Gale calmly looks at him, then says in a sassy tone. "Maybe because you don't actually pay attention to your students? Or maybe none of them like to talk to you? Because you treat them all as beneath you?" She looks back out as the last of the dragons disappear among the trees to look for the bucks.

"I don't treat the students badly." Led says with a growl to punctuate it.

Gale sighs and turns around, walking away. Led grumbles and looks back out at the forest, then at the small dials showing how many deer are left and who has captured what.

By the end Cloud and Bricriu came in second, and while Bricriu would have liked to see everyone congratulate him, it seems sportsmanship was not yet discovered in these realms. He can hear the other teams blaming each other for the loss to the "new guy."

Cloud sighs softly when Bricriu points it out to her. "That's dragons for you... All about the competition. Anyways, how have you been? I didn't see you at lunch."

"I was practicing flying with Fulma." He smiles. "You saw me, how did I do?!" His tail wags slowly behind her.

Cloud smiles a little and rolls her eyes. "You did good. Especially with your takeoff. Though others won't like that you did that. It's been an unspoken rule to not do that, it's an "unfair advantage'"

"See, and that's just stupid." Bricriu says with a bit of anger in his voice. "Winning is winning, no matter how it's done. When it comes to a game, if the rules allow it it shouldn't be discriminated against."

"If only everyone thought like that." Cloud mutters as they walk out of the class to the bell ringing.

"Do you think like that?" Bricriu asks her, hoping to make conversation.

Cloud blinks, then frowns. "I like to think so." She keeps walking a few more steps before continuing. "But it's in our blood to be competitive, and honor is a big deal. Honor in combat is a requirement, and if you show dishonor, you don't deserve respect."

"What is classifiable as dishonor to dragons?" Bricriu asks as he looks at her.

She glances at him, then sighs. "I don't know." Bricriu blinks in confusion and Cloud says with a defeated tone. "C'mon, we have to get to our classes." She speeds up and Bricriu copies her.

Bricriu frowns at her tone and her quickening, but still follows her, wondering what he did wrong and why she seems to not care about him anymore. He wonders if he's reading too much into her emotions, but can't think of any other reason why she would be like this around him. "Is something bugging you Cloud? Was it the fact that I wa-"

"Please don't worry about me, I'm fine." She interrupts.

"I will worry about you! You matter to me!" He whines, and she turns and snarls angrily at him. He jumps in surprise and takes a step back, but she quickly whips back around and walks away into her class.

Blinking a few times as tears form, his mind racing, he walks away to his next class.

 **Almost normal is right. Sorry about the shorter chapter, I am thinking they might get shorter and shorter as time goes on just so I can relax and not be so OCD over the jump cuts. Hope you all enjoy!**


	7. A Few Steps Too Far

**And now for the twists and turns I've been wanting to add for a while. Hopefully I can get it done this month, though with school and my short teen attention span I harshly doubt it. Even now I keep stopping to listen to music and dream. If I could stop dreaming and start doing, I probably would rule the world by now, but I guess everyone could then.**

Going to sleep is hard for Bricriu. Now that the excitement of being in a new world with dragons has somehow died down, he is left alone with his thoughts, and his thoughts are absorbed by questions for Cloud

" _Why did you walk away from me?"_ His mind races as he lay awake. _"What did I do wrong to you?"_ He wipes his eyes and tries not to cry, then looks out the small window he has at the setting sun. Deciding he has a few more minutes before curfew, he gets out of bed and quickly heads to her room, snaking between the few students still out and about with each other.

As he walks, his mind races with images of what he wants to happen. He'll walk up to Cloud's room, barge in and demand to know what the hell is wrong!

Then Cloud's door comes into view and he stops for a moment to replan. He'll knock gently on her door, wait for her to answer, and ask carefully yet reassuringly what was wrong. Nice and sweet, which is probably what she wants him to be. He'll hug her and she'll open up, telling her what's bugging her. He'll comfort her, like a good... friend.

He gently knocks on her door. No answer. He knocks again, harder. No answer. He bangs on the door.

"She's NOT FUCKING THERE!" A dragoness next door screams. "I'M TRYING TO SLEEP!"

"Sorry!" Bricriu shouts. He walks away from her door and thinks. "Do you know where she is?!"

There's a pause. "You her boyfriend or something!?" Bricriu blushes a little and shakes his head.

It takes a moment for him to realize she can't see him. "No!"

Another pause. "I think her aunt came to talk to her!"

Bricriu shouts his thanks, then quickly heads down the stairs to Gale's classroom. As he nears her door, Cloud's shout makes him stop in his tracks.

"He's a massive Bitch!"

Confused and now very cautious, Bricriu slowly pads up to the doorframe and peeks inside. Cloud stands in front of Gale, who is frowning and her eyes are closed in thought. "Language, little one."

"Don't call me little one!" Cloud snarls, then takes a deep breath and composes herself, even though her claws grip the ground as she talks. "He is nothing like the stories."

"He's not the same human from the stories, Cloud. Bricriu is obviously different." Bricriu's eyes widen as he it sinks in that Cloud told her aunt about Bricriu's humanity, and she believes it.

"But he's special, just like the others! His element is controlled differently, he's got a blue thing just like the others, but I thought humans were tough and powerful and badass! I want to say he's not a human, but he's also so... So not a dragon how could he not be?! I've never seen a dragon or human so cowardly!"

"He's different to the other dragons, and the other humans. That in and of itself is enough for us to be curious. Even if he isn't the next human, we need to watch him. So stop daydreaming about getting to bed the next "Savior of the realms," and just focus on what I assigned you to do."

Cloud blushes bright and shouts one last time. "I'm not thinking that!" She moves to leave and Bricriu quickly pulls his head away. Gale tells her to stop and she does as Gale gives her one last parting order. Bricriu takes the opportunity to run away as silently as he can.

"Just because he isn't what you wanted him to be doesn't mean you can stop watching him. He's a good friend to you, and you should be a good friend to him." Cloud blinks and sighs. Gale continues, however Bricriu can no longer hear it.

Running all the way back to his room, Bricriu shuts and locks the door, then stands there thinking about what he heard.

" _Gale knows I'm a human, but they both talk about humans who have come before me as if they're legends. I must be such a disappointment to them. Who else has Cloud told? Or has her aunt Gale told all the guardians about it?"_ He mulls over the thought, then huffs. His claws graze against the carpet as he walks over to his bed and climbs in. _"I'm not a bitch or coward because I refuse to fight. I'm a strategist. I'm a tactician. I'm a negotiator. I'm..."_ He chuckles to himself and mutters to the empty darkness around him. "I'm repeating myself." He curls up a little and pulls the blanket over himself.

"I'll ask Cloud in the morning." He reassures himself aloud, then nods in agreement with himself and closes his eyes. He then opens them and sighs as he realizes he's not going to sleep easily tonight.

Next morning he rushes to Cloud's door and smiles wide as he sees her, like he always does. She smiles back and then goes back to walking. He quickly pads up to walk beside her. "Good morning!" Bricriu says.

"Morning." Cloud responds, stretching her neck until it cracks twice.

"How did you sleep?" Bricriu asks politely as they walk to the cafeteria and get today's breakfast of eggs and sausage.

"Fine." Is her response before she sits on a bench and eats.

Bricriu hums to himself as he sits and puts his plate down beside her, watching her. After a moment she takes notice and looks at him, but he only smiles a little wider. "Are you okay?"

He nods. "Just thinking."

She huffs. "About?"

He pauses, and wonders if he should tell her that he overheard what she and her aunt had discussed. On one hand, it would be so awesome to see Cloud's face when she hears 'll be so impressed. On the other hand, she will also be furious.

Bricriu takes a deep breath, then shrugs. "Stuff." He answers simply, willing his tone to give away nothing.

Cloud huffs again, then focuses on her meal. While he eats as well, Bricriu pictures in his mind how he'll improve Cloud's thoughts about him. "I was actually thinking about." He starts, looking at her and waiting for her to look at him. "About whether or not dragons get married."

Cloud blinks a few times. "Marriage is a thing, yeah."

"You ever think about who you wanna marry?" Bricriu asks innocently. Cloud hums for a minute and Bricriu continues. "Am I ever a candidate?"

Cloud laughs nervously and only answers with a "Yes." Which question that answers is left ambiguous.

They finish breakfast in silence, but Bricriu barely notices as his mind races about the implications of the answer Cloud gave. Even with the conversation he overheard last night, he fully believes that Cloud is falling for him slowly. He just needs to increase the dosage, and show her that he is more than willing to take this road with her.

He walks her to her class with Gale, and as he stands at the doorway for a moment to watch her, he can feel Gale's gaze on him. He makes sure not to give away any sign that he knows what she knows, and simply waves to Cloud before he walks away.

Opportunity to prove himself first arrives in Damean's class, the second class he shares with Cloud. Damean walks to the center of the class and looks around at all the dragons practicing. "May I have your attention please?" His shadow pupil is quick to get everyone to stop what they're doing.

Bricriu looks away from his practice dummy as Damean raises his voice. "I need everyone who has not participated in a mock battle to come here!" His heart skipping a beat, Bricriu walks over along with a few other dragons to the arena. Immediately, a small ring of dragons who need not participate forms around the arena in anticipation for the combat. Bricriu looks around and sees Cloud among them, and he smiles to her, trying to hide his nervousness.

"Any volunteers?" Damean asks. Immediately paws are raised and Damean chooses two dragons to go first. Everyone else backs up into the ring of students to watch.

Bricriu backs up far enough to escape and then goes around to Cloud. Gently nudging his way beside her, he smiles to her. "Ready to see me try?"

"Ready to see you fail." Cloud responds. Bricriu whines with a hurt tone and she rolls her eyes. "I'm just playing." Bricriu looks at her face and she looks at his. "Serious?"

Bricriu simply sighs and looks at the fight, which is quickly winding down as the larger dragon uses his superior body weight to pin his opponent and wrangle them into a surrender. The friends standing in the ring cheer for the victor. "Who next." Damean asks as the cheers quiet down.

"Wish me luck." Bricriu whispers to Cloud as he walks forward to the ring. He looks around and watches an Earth dragon a good head taller than him steps forward.

"Good luck!" Cloud says sarcastically as she also sees the opponent. Bricriu glances back to glare at her, then looks at his opponent and bows his head slightly. The dragon returns the gesture and takes a fighting stance. Bricriu does the same.

"Ready?!" Damean calls. "GO!" Despite Bricriu's every instinct telling him to rush, he takes his time and thinks as he slowly pads to the right. The earth dragon, despite looking like he can ram Bricriu with enough force to put him through the wall, does the same, both of them waiting for the first to flinch.

Bricriu flinches in the form of glancing down at the Earth's paws and the opponent grabs the opportunity, running forward and putting both paws on Bricriu's shoulder. Before Bricriu can dart away, he is thrown to the ground. He yelps in pain and the earth dragon stomps hard on his chest. Tears fill his eyes almost immediately, but he ignores them as best he can so he can slam his paw into the earth's face. The blow is weak and pitiful, pain draining most of Bricriu's energy.

The other fights he has been in, he never really got hurt, and they were fast and over in a flash. This one feels like it's already dragged on for an hour or more. Anger flares in Bricriu, but is quickly dashed as he is overpowered by the earth dragon's pure strength.

The Earth dragon wastes no time in standing over Bricriu and pinning him down quickly. Bringing a paw to Bricriu's throat, the Earth dragon orders him to submit and Bricriu does so, thankful to have the massive crushing weight of his opponent off him. No one cheers as he stands, and he looks around to see that all eyes are on him. Blinking to clear his tears, he looks at Damean and asks. "What?"

Damean frowns deeply and says nothing, only pointing for them to get out of the ring. The Earth dragon shakes his head. "Can I go again?" He looks around and an Ice dragon who is just as big as the Earth dragon steps forward. Damean nods and waits for Bricriu to leave the ring. Confused, Bricriu looks around for Cloud only to realize she's no longer in the room.

He slowly walks out of the ring, trying hard to ignore the gaze of everyone, and goes back to his practice dummy.

Damean is quick to walk after him. "What was that, Bricriu?" He asks harshly, so much so that Bricriu flinches. This only seems to make Damean more angry, but he says nothing and waits for an answer.

Bricriu reaches up and rubs his eyes as tears quickly begin to form again. He looks away from Damean and mutters. "I didn't want to fight anyways."

"But you have to learn how. What I just saw in the arena was an embarrassment. What would your parents think?"

"My parents would probably think that the battle class here is barbaric!" Bricriu keeps rubbing as thoughts of his human parents bring up even more tears. "They never wanted me to fight. My dad always told me that he hopes I go through life without ever having to fight anyone!"

"I told you." Damean starts slowly, an angry growl in his voice. "That when Jade challenged you you were right to turn it down. But you've practiced. You've got training. Yet today you didn't use any of it. You simply let your opponent walk right over you without much contest!" Cheers erupt as the fight is concluded.

Bricriu finally can't hold it back anymore, and he begins crying. "Did you see how big that guy was?! I didn't stand a fucking chance Damean! And I've only ever fought somebody when I hated them! That's what pushes me to fight, not some stupid rules at a stupid school!"

Damean glares down at him as he holds his face in his paws, then sighs and says nothing more. He turns and walks back to the controls to the room, sitting down to watch the next fight.

Bricriu spends the rest of class trying to pull himself together, he doesn't see Cloud re-enter the room until it's time to go and he sees her pick up her satchel bag. Rubbing his face one last time, he grabs his own bag and hurries to catch up with her. "Where were you?" He asks, wishing his voice could sound stronger.

"Restroom." Is all she says before she picks up her pace to get to her class. Or get away from him.

The next opportunity comes at dinner. Bricriu and Cloud sit across from one another in the cafeteria, their favorite bench already taken. They eat in silence the whole time, though Bricriu does try to break out of it by bringing up his surprise at some of the human meals the cafeteria has, like corn dogs.

"Mhm."

"Why aren't you talking to me Cloud?" Bricriu slowly pushes his plate away from him, finished.

Cloud stares at her food for a moment, then picks up her plate and his. "I'll throw these away." She says, getting up and walking away from the table with the two plates.

"But..." Bricriu says nothing more and simply lays his head down, watching her. Wondering what to do.

As she throws the plates in the garbage, a large familiar dragon steps in her path. With a big smile on his face, he begins talking to her, purposefully moving so she can't get past him.

Bricriu quickly sits up and watches closely. Slowly, he gets out his seat and looks around for someone to tell. There is only one guardian in the cafeteria at any time, and today it is Damean, but he is too busy talking with some students to notice. The cafeteria aids are all older students, too caught up in their jobs to care.

Bricriu looks back at the scene, and sees the earth dragon casually using his spade-like tailblade to block all of Cloud's swings at him. When the chance comes, he grabs her paw and slams it down to the ground, covering it with his own. He then presses his forehead to hers.

Bricriu quickly begins walking towards them, but the green dragon notices first. He grins. "Oh. Hello again. Don't mind me, we are just talking." He laughs to himself and Bricriu sighs.

"Is there no end to bullies in this place?" He asks politely, sending both the earth dragon and Cloud for a loop, which is exactly what he wanted. The second that confused look shows up on the Earth dragon's face, Bricriu tackles him, slamming him back into the garbage can.

The dragon snarls in confusion and Cloud cries out in surprise, but Bricriu ignores it as he fuels his anger, the exact anger he spoke to Damean of. This is a real reason to fight.

Grabbing the sides of the dragon's head, Bricriu jams his claws into his opponent's eyes. He roars out in pain and Bricriu follows it up by biting his neck hard, until he feels blood. It tastes much different to the blood of the dummies.

Dragons around them begin screaming, but Bricriu ignores them as well as he holds down the earth's paws and keeps biting down, poison slowly filling his throat.

A loud, demonic screech fills Bricriu's ears, making him leap back in surprise. Looking around, he screams in surprise as an invisible force slashes his cheek and pushes him back against a wall.

 _A ghost! A demon is attacking me for my sins! Oh god!_ His worst fears come to life, Bricriu does the only natural thing and he curls up quickly. "SOMEONE HELP! ANYONE!" He looks around and realizes he's all alone now. The cafeteria has caught fire, and out the windows is a blood red sky. "Oh god, I died! I am in hell! HELP ME! GOD HELP ME PLEASE!" He screams out loudly and tries to hide from whatever creature had attacked him before.

Outside of Bricriu's mind, Damean stares at the huddled green dragon who screams for help, a dark red aura surrounding him and keeping his vision warped. He then looks at Cloud and the earth dragon who is holding his eyes. "Get him to the infirmary, quick!" Damean orders. A few other dragons run up to assist Cloud walking with the dragon. Damean then looks around again. "Oscur! Go get the other guardians. It's an emergency." Oscur, wide eyed at the word 'Emergency,' nods and runs off as well. With all that settled, Damean begins dragging Bricriu slowly down the hallway toward the scrying pool.

"Oh thank you my lord!" Bricriu calls out to the open air as the sky parts and the hand of God slowly brings him out towards the light. "Thank you so much." He closes his eyes, believing he is saved from the pits of Hell.

A moment before sleep takes him, he giggles. "And I'm not even religious."

 **Let me just say that this chapter is pretty much thanks to those of you who have the guts to tell me to hurry the fuck up. Thank you all so much, because if I didn't get the few emails this may have taken another whole month! Hope you all enjoy, and please feel free to message me if you feel I have been sitting on my ass for long enough... PLEASE!**


	8. Exiled

**Another real quick short chapter, hopefully will be done by the end of October. Maybe I will get another dose of encouragement from someone! 3**

"Is everyone here?" Gale says, despite already knowing the answer as she looks around at the assembled guardians and the sleeping poison dragon. The current bane of her existence, throwing everything she has ever known for a thousand loops.

She, like her niece, has always loved the stories of the heroes of old. Cynder was a role model to her since she first learned to read, and the legends who came after were always interesting to read and re-read about.

But now there is this one dragon that claims to be exactly like those heroes of old, and yet is nothing like them. He is not strong physically, and it seems he has the willpower of a sheep. Even now, he is fully under the effect of Damean's power, keeping him dreaming peacefully. There was never anything peaceful about the heroes. They were always on edge, for they had too many enemies to ever let their guard down.

"Gale?" Gale blinks and looks over at Scath, who spoke up. "What are w-"

"Sorry." Gale interrupts and looks at Damean. "Wake him."

Damean nods and releases Bricriu from his fear spell. He then pokes Bricriu hard in the stomach with his tail tip. "Wake up." He orders.

Yawning, the green dragon slowly begins to realize where he is. Another way he is different. A real hero would be in control of the situation. He is never caught off guard. "W... What's going on!?" Bricriu asks, fear in his voice.

"You attacked another dragon with the intent to kill." Led says with an angry glare. "You now stand trial before the guardians. How do you plea?"

Bricriu blinks twice. "What will be my punishment?"

"That's for us to decide." Led continues.

"That's not how law works! I have a right to... Rights!" Bricriu stares at the guardians angrily, but as he looks into all of their eyes he can tell they have no idea what he is talking about. "Rights? You don't have them for criminals?"

Scath pipes up. "What do you mean? What rights?"

Bricriu thinks back to what he can remember being told from the few snippets of law shows he has seen. "The right to a trial by jury. The right to a speedy trial. The right to be told what I am being charged with."

Scath watches him closely, curiosity gleaming in his eyes, but Led snarls. "You wanna know what you're being charged with? Attempted murder, Espionage, Impersonation! Being a pain in the ass!" Gale glares at Led from across the room, to which Led huffs and looks down at his blue paws.

Bricriu sputters. "Espionage?! Impersonation?! I'm not a spy! What could I be spying for!?"

"For the corrupt dragon Malefor." Gale says harshly, and immediately a cold chill sweeps through the room, felt by everyone in the room.

Except Bricriu. "I am not working for him. Cloud told me he was destroyed. And people don't just come back from the dead."

"He does. He has. He will. That snake always finds a way." Gale's claws dig into the ground for a moment. "And you could be helping him along."

"What makes you suspect me?!" Bricriu shouts angrily. Immediately Led moves to strike him, but a harsh growl from Damean stops him in his tracks. For now.

"You are completely unlike any other dragons. You don't act like anyone else here." Infernar trails off, apparently to soft to continue, so Fulma does it instead. "You could be one of Malefor's monsters in a disguise with a powerful magical illusion."

"Or a dragon corrupted by his influences." Damean comments.

Bricriu stares at everyone, wide eyed and confused. Still no grasp on the situation at paw. "You're weak." Gale mutters with venom in her tone. The other dragons turn to her as she continues. "You don't think before you fight, like some wild beast. You try avoid fights and have no honor in combat."

"I've never had to fight before in my entire life! I'm a loner, an outcast, not someone who likes to spend time around others beating each other up! My parents raised me to know violence is wrong!" Bricriu's claws begin to grind against the floor, his anger rising steadily.

"Who are your parents Bricriu?" Scath asks softly. His question would have gone unheard had it not reverberated off the walls of the room.

Bricriu's eyes widen and his scales feel cold. Shutting his mouth and then opening it again, he manages to squeak out a feeble response. He realizes how damning this bit of evidence toward him is. "They live... far far away from here."

He shrinks back against the cold stone floor as all the eyes on him narrow. "Where are they?" Gale asks coldly.

Knowing he's bound to be in trouble, he does the only thing he has ever been known to do in this situation. He begins crying. Gale raises her voice as she repeats herself. "Where are they?" When she gets no response, she says it again, even louder. "Where are they!?"

"On Earth!" Bricriu sobs as he manages to choke out the name of his home.

A chorus of shocked gasps follow, which only encourages Bricriu's tear ducts to expel more water. "How do you know that place?" Damean demands to know.

"Because it's where I am from! I'm a human being!" Bricriu takes a moment to rub his eyes with his forelegs. "I was born in that place and I came here by falling down a hole in Florida!"

The Guardians stare intensely at him, and he shakes with fear. "Please don't hurt me. I'm sorry I'm not a dragon." Gale snorts with disgust.

"This has to be proof, yes?!" Scath shouts to his friends, making them turn towards him. "Only guardians know the name of the human planet! He has to be a human, just as we thought."

"He does think differently to us." Fulma says hesitantly.

Gale looks from Scath to Fulma, then finally to Bricriu, who is staring at them all with tears in his eyes. "Look at him. Do you really think that the home of some of our greatest heroes could have created this disappointing sack of scales?" Bricriu's eyes widen and more tears fall. "I believe this is just one of Malefor's cruel tricks, designed to feast off our pity."

"He has no respect, no honor, no bravery. He's not at all human. He's not at all Dragon. He's just a sad excuse for neither."

Led growls his agreement. "What is our verdict?"

Gale looks at him, but speaks for all to hear. "Exile." A short pause for everyone to collect their thoughts and choose their side. "Votes for the exile of Bricriu for Attempted murder, Espionage, and Impersonation?" Led's, Infernar's, Lurra's, Damean's, and Gale's paws all raise, with Led's being the fastest. Soon Lason and Fulma also raise theirs.

Bricriu stares in shock, turning to Scath out of desperation. "Please." He begs. "Don't do this. Don't exile me. I didn't do anything wrong! I just wanted to be with Cloud!"

Gale's eyes narrow once again. "What do you mean?"

"I wanted to see her late last night! So I went looking! I didn't mean to eavesdrop! I'm sorry!" In his despair, Bricriu gives up another piece of evidence against him.

"You were spying on Gale and Cloud?!" Led shouts, then guffaws. "I knew it! Exile him now!"

Gale shakes her head and growls. "We need no further proof. By order of the guardian's, you are now an outlaw."

"No! Please!" Bricriu wails.

"Should you return to this temple, or any village or city nearby, you will be considered a criminal and thrown in jail." Gale finishes as Bricriu's sobs reach a higher note. "Lason, take him."

Lason nods and walks up to Bricriu, taking one of his claws and pressing it against the smaller green dragon's scales. Within a few short seconds, Bricriu collapses to the floor, unconscious.

 **Welp. Didn't finish at the end of October. Sorry. But hey, at least this proves I ain't dead!... Yet... Please don't kill me! I know I am super slow, but things just keep me busy, like short attention spans.**


	9. Far Outside the Law

**Now for another short chapter to make up for my super short one! Except maybe not really. We shall see how the cookie crumbles.**

Waking up staring at the sun, Bricriu groans loudly and rubs his eyes with the back of his paws, the sights of trees surrounding him on all sides. He gulps and rolls quickly, glancing around at his surroundings.

No signs of civilization in any direction. He's been dumped somewhere smack in the middle of nowhere by the guardians.

Still looking around, Bricriu spots a piece of paper with a red ribbon tied around it to keep it on the tree it was nailed to. Walking over, he pulls it away and reads it in the sunlight.

' _As of the month of spring, you are permanently banished from any and all dragonic settlements in the Dragon realms for Espionage, attempted murder, disobeying the guardians, lying to the guardians, and eavesdropping on the guardians. If you are seen in or around any dragon cities you will be arrested, charged, and executed."_

At the bottom of the paper there is the first two letters of every guardian's names in a different colors, almost like a rainbow. It would have made Bricriu laugh if he weren't already crying.

He's banished. Completely and utterly alone, stranded somewhere far away from all of dragonkind. How he wished he was home now, with his video games and phone and friends and family. With his boring life and his C+ GPA. Maybe he could have got a boring job or something. At least he wouldn't be a criminal in this ancient, unfair judicial system. He would have never met Gale or Scath or Led and everything would be okay in his life!

Instead he's a criminal now. Mom and dad would be so disappointed.

Looking around again, Bricriu examines his location and his surroundings more closely. He's in a large valley, grassy green and lush. On three sides he can see tall mountains, steep and rocky, giving no sign of any way up. To the north a massive waterfall crashes down into some river or lake nearby. However to the south he can see the valley continue on with the flow of the river. With no other ideas, he walks that direction, hoping find the river and not a massive lake.

The sound of rushing rapids grows louder and louder as he nears the river, making him sigh softly in relief. He then begins walking near the edge of the water, following the river slowly down the valley, entertaining himself occasionally by dropping rocks into the water with his tail as he tries to ignore the thoughts swirling around in his mind.

Soon though the water leads to another cliff and another waterfall. Glancing over the side, Bricriu sighs and turns, only to stop and flex his wings. He then takes another look off the side. After one last look around at the valley he is stuck in, Bricriu takes a deep breath, backs up, and runs straight at the cliffside before leaping off.

His wings stiffen, then relax as his practice kicks in gradually. Slowly Bricriu glides down towards the ground, aiming for the largest clearing he can see.

His landing is careful, calculated, and practically flawless. Fulma would be proud, if she weren't so cruel to him. His eyes water for a moment, but he blinks away those tears. No time for it right now.

His descent lands him next to a small offshoot of the river, and looking into it he can see quite a few fish darting back and forth in the clear water. His stomach rumbles and he huffs softly. Walking towards the edge as slowly and as softly as he can manage, he uses all his knowledge of hunting fish and his dragon anatomy to slowly bring his tail tip to the water, then lunges it forward at the nearest fish.

His lightning fast strike is not enough, and he watches the fish dart away. Growling with irritation, he sits at the edge of the creek, waiting for another fish to try its luck at coming close, but none do. Bricriu closes his eyes and thinks of what could be doing this.

The afternoon sun's light casts his shadow behind him, meaning that's not a factor. The fish look like they are normal enough, probably bass or salmon or something.

Bricriu's sigh catches in his throat as he sees another fish slowly floating down stream towards him. Flexing his paws and wiggling his tail like a cat, he prepares to grab at it just beneath him.

Suddenly a shadow swoops overhead, making the fish dart away. Growling in frustration, Bricriu looks around for the shadow's source.

A red dragoness lands in the same clearing as him. With a sideways glance towards him, she dips her head down and begins lapping at the water to drink.

Bricriu suppresses a gag, then backs away from the river. The dragoness pulls her head back and asks. "You are trying to catch a fish, correct?"

"Um... yeah." Bricriu rubs his neck with a paw. "It isn't really working out right now."

She goes back to drinking, then steps back and looks at him. "You're banished too right?" Bricriu's eyes widen, then he nods. "Yeah, happens to the best of us sometimes. And the worst." She holds out a paw. "My name is Craindre. You?"

"Uh." Bricriu shakes her paw. "Bricriu. So, what do the banished... Do?"

"Be banished." She says with a smirk. "But if you're asking if there is anyone else out there, I'm not sure. I have a little home off to the mountain that way." She points with her tail.

"May I join you?" Bricriu asks with a careful tone. "It's my first night being banished and I am worried."

Craindre looks him up and down. "Hm... Sure, let's go. Try to keep up, greenie." Spreading her red wings, she takes off into the air.

Bricriu follows a little sloppily, but she slows down a bit for him to catch up before continuing onwards. "So is this a home you built on your own?" He asks.

Craindre laughs. "I dug one hole, if that counts. The rest was all natural."

"All natural? What does that mean?" Bricriu thinks about it for a moment. "It's not a cave, is it?"

Craindre doesn't answer and only continues to laugh, her flying still somehow smooth despite it. Bricriu groans softly at the thought of living in a cave.

His thoughts drift back to the temple, and the dragons within. "How does one become unbanished?" He asks.

Craindre's laughter fades quickly and she shakes her head. "You don't get unbanished, no matter what you do." She sighs.

"Have you tried before? Maybe if you do enough good or something." Bricriu looks around. "Any bandits or anything we can do?"

"What, you think charity work or bounty hunting will allow you to get back on the guardian's good graces?" Craindre shakes her head again. "No, you're banished. That means no going to any major cities or towns or even some houses. You're not a dragon anymore, you're just an animal. Learn it, live it, love it." She takes a sharp turn to the left and Bricriu follows her as she lands in a small clearing. Bricriu lands a little ways behind her and follows her as she walks to the bottom of the ravine's walls.

She points with her tail. "There it is, my home."

Bricriu looks at it and groans again. "It really is a cave!"

"Never said it wasn't, just said it was home." She calmly strolls inside and after a short moment of hesitation Bricriu follows.

Looking around, the cave is just as dark and damp and filthy as Bricriu expected. The rocks closest to the entrance were covered in moss.

There is evidence of other dragons being in here, as there are many paw prints at the entrance. Bricriu examines them closely to figure out which are animal and which are dragon, only to realize that none match the paw prints Craindre leaves.

He points this out and she shrugs nonchalantly. "Previous occupants." She says quietly, before going over to a small pile of grass, hay, and other comfy materials to lay on.

Bricriu stands, his paws grinding slowly back and forth across the muddy dirt floor. "So... how long have you lived here, Craindre?"

"I found the cave a week or two after I was banished." She shifts on the pile. "Made it my home after that."

"There was no one else with you?" Bricriu turns and looks back at the entrance to the cave.

Craindre growls low. "Don't get any ideas greenie. Just because I'm alone does not mean I'm defenseless."

Bricriu frowns at her sudden hostility and says nothing, going back to the paw prints at the front of the cave. His gut tells him that many of these look fresh. "Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure that there is no one else. I'm not insane. Now could you freaking stop?"

Sighing softly, Bricriu walks over to her and sits down. "Sorry. This entire thing has got me scared. I don't understand why I was banished."

Craindre examines her claws and tsks. "Well, what did they say you did?"

"Espionage against them for some dark master but I don't even know who that is!"

"If they said you did it, you did it. End of story." She looks at him. "What do you think my crimes were?"

Looking her up and down for a moment, Bricriu answers. "I dunno. Maybe stealing?"

"Murder." She says simply. Her eyes are hard as she continues. "Oh I pleaded, I told them it was an accident and that I didn't do it and that I was just a kid, but did they care? No. He was important, he had a paw in almost all the trade that went to and from the city, so of course he couldn't have died from a simple accident. There had to be a reason. I was that reason."

Bricriu gulps, an action that does not go unnoticed by Craindre as her hardened glare only grows worse. "Who was this dragon? Your mate?"

"No. My father. And a really shit one at that." She gestures to a scale missing from her side. "He did that to me before he died."

Bricriu examines the wound. It's small, and scabbed over, but it was a rather obvious blemish to her ruby red body. "So will it heal?"

"Missing scales don't he- HEY!" Her sentence is interrupted by a screech of surprise and she leaps to her paws, slamming her tail against the side of Bricriu's head, making him bite his tongue. "DID YOU JUST LICK ME?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?"

Bricriu's eyes widen. "Nono, I was helping! Look!" He quickly points to the elixir he placed on her wound.

Her eyes go just as wide in panic. "What is that?! Is that poison!? How could you!?" Desperate and terrified, she scratches at it. Her claws do nothing against it.

Backing up a little, Bricriu attempts to calm her. "Wait! It'll heal you, watch! Relax please!"

Craindre shakes her head. "Relax!? I don't know what you've done, but I tried to tell you, Missing scales don't heal!"

Whimpering fearfully, Bricriu nods. "Okay, then let me remove it. I need you to hold still so I can apply my poison to it and melt it off. It's the only way to get rid of it."

Craindre nods slowly and stands stock still. Her breathing is hard and fearful. Bricriu slowly leans forward and licks the elixir on her side, allowing poison to coat the blue goo and sizzle as it melts it away, revealing the cut gone and a new, fresh, ruby red scale grown over where the scab was. Bricriu blinks in surprise, then smirks and pulls away. "Check it out."

Craindre looks at his smug face with anger in her eyes, but then she looks at her new scale and she returns to her surprised expression, as if the soft breeze that just came from the cavern's mouth carried her rage away. "How?" She manages to ask, to which Bricriu simply shrugs while still looking proud and smug.

She looks at him, examining him as if for the first time. Bricriu smiles at first, but then begins to grow uncomfortable by her gaze. After a solid minute of her looking at him, he coughs softly into his paw, the gesture not lost on her and she looks away, toward the light cascading into the cave.

Bricriu waves his paw in front of her. "Is everything okay?"

Craindre looks at him, her thoughts seeming to evaporate immediately. "Yeah. It's just a really big shock to be rid of that finally."

Bricriu smiles happily at being able to help her. "Reminds me of this one time where I was helping a buddy of mine with some work at their house, when suddenly they." A soft flapping comes from outside the cave, making him trail off as he listens closely to it.

The flapping stops twice, and Bricriu can hear what sounds like a dragon approaching the cave. He turns to look at the entrance, only to get blindsided by Craindre, having her pounce onto his back while sinking her claws into his sides. Howling in pain, he rolls to get her off but she stays firm.

Suddenly his vision is enveloped in red, and a large wolf-like creature slowly walks into the cave, two heads sprouting from its shoulders. One stares ominously at Bricriu, its black eyes unblinking. The other, with glowing yellow eyes, growls and snarls with anger.

Bricriu stands terrified, feeling Craindre get off of him but unable to actually stand, his muscles locked up in fear. A third wolf with red eyes walks forward in front of him, merging with the other two, creating a three headed cerberus right before his eyes, making him whimper in fear louder than before and desperately try to flatten himself against the floor to not seem a threat.

The heads turn to one another and seem to speak in growls and snarls and barks. While the gold and red ones bark at each other, occasionally swinging at each other, the black ones maintains unblinking eye contact with Bricriu.

After a few minutes, the red mist fades from his vision. Blinking a few times, Bricriu shakes his head and sees the group for who they really are.

A yellow dragon stands in front of Craindre, four long, straight horns sprouting from his head on both sides. His tail thrashes as he shouts at her, the strangely shaped tailblade on the right side slamming flat against the ground, kicking up dirt. Slowly it clicks that the blade is similar to a glaive or an axe on the right side of his tail.

Opposite of them, a black dragon with a face and neck covered in scars stands in a battle ready position, his horns jagged and his claws sharp. His black eyes betray no emotions as he stares at Bricriu, breathing as if he was meditating. From where he is, Bricriu cannot see the tailblade.

"You can't kill him, not this one, not this time Tander!" Craindre snarls at the yellow dragon.

Tander growls back. "I will because you had no right to bring him here! This is the first cave we have found in months, and you just led him right to it! Who knows how many allies he has waiting for him out there, waiting to strike at us and take this!"

Slowly standing up, the argument immediately dies as Bricriu gets to his paws. The two arguing dragons look at him for a moment, before the yellow one suddenly lunges forward and shoves him down, snarling in anger.

Craindre shouts out. "He's magic! He healed me with some sort of magic!" She gestures with her tail to her new scale, its ruby brilliance shining bright in the cave light compared to the rest of her dirty scales.

The black Dragon examines the new scale, his face betraying nothing as he touches it. He turns to Tander and nods, silent.

Tander frowns. He looks at Bricriu in disgust and mutters. "You're lucky." He then gets off of Bricriu.

Bricriu flips himself upright and looks at the three dragons. "What do you want from me!?" He shouts.

"Well normally we would hold you for ransom, though apparently Craindre's got a better idea!" Tander spits at her.

"We could have held him here if we chose. He wouldn't know the way." Craindre flicks her tail, making it crack like a whip and making Bricriu jump. "But now we can't get rid of him. He's special!"

Tander rolls his eyes and the black Dragon seems to resume examining Bricriu, though with his emotionless stare it's nearly impossible to tell.

Craindre continues. "He's our best bet for getting Minerva back!"

Bricriu manages to work up enough courage by now to interrupt the argument. "Who?"

They all look at him, each with an angry glare on their faces. "Minerva is a companion, greenie. She's stuck somewhere. And you're going to get her out for us." Tander finishes the sentence in a harsh tone, making it an order. Whimpering, Bricriu nods.

"And when you do." Craindre continues, looking at Tander when he returns the look. "We shall decide whether you live or die."

Bricriu, eyes wide, looks to the black dragon, the one who hasn't said or done anything through practically this whole ordeal, hoping for some help.

He stares back, his black eyes giving away nothing. His posture is calm and relaxed.

"Please, don't do this." Bricriu begins to cry. Tander rolls his eyes. "I didn't want to be here. I just wanna go home."

"You're banished greenie. There is no more home." Craindre mutters. "There's just survival out in the wild. And if you want to survive, you better prepare yourself for the temple."

"T-temple?" Bricriu stutters out, wide eyed.

The black dragon nods slowly as Tander speaks. "The last underground temple of Malefor. Far outside the law."


	10. Lived Long Enough

**Finally, the big chapter. The one that will either piss you guys off or make you even more interested in this story. I have been thinking about this chapter since the first one came out, and ever since I first got a follower notification I have been scared that I wouldn't be able to pull through, that it wouldn't be good enough or it would be too crazy to work. So if you don't like where this goes, I am sorry to disappoint you. And if you do like where this goes, I'm sorry it's not better for you all. 3**

The walk to the temple is short, and unfortunately it had to be a walk because Bricriu had to be chained and shackled. The chains, he's told, are "Stupid dragon proof," and as Tander turns around Bricriu finds out exactly what he means.

Every attempt to spit out a glob of acid to melt the chains is met with nothing but regular saliva dripping down its dark purple hues. "What did you do to me?" Bricriu asks, which is only met with sly chuckles by his captors ahead and silence from the strange black dragon behind him.

Bricriu can feel that dragon's gaze digging into his back through the whole trip. The dragon never seems to blink, never seems to look away from his prisoner. After what feels like near fifteen minutes of walking with them, he breaks. Turning his head back as much as he can, he shouts at the beast. "What the hell is your problem with me?" No response. Aggravated by the dragon's lack of an answer as well as the situation he's in as a whole, he shouts again.

"Hey!" Craindre shouts in response, turning slightly so her red eyes fall on Bricriu's. "I swear if you don't leave Dunkel alone I'm going to put those chain around your maw as well." Tander chuckles a little at that, but Craindre's eyes show no humor.

Gulping, Bricriu nods and apologizes to the dragon. Still, at least Bricriu got the name of the dragon, and he stores it away for later. Dunkel, of course, says nothing, as unphased by his prisoner's outburst as he is unphased by everything else in life.

Slowly as they walk, the environment begins to shift in colors. The bright, vibrant greens of the grass and trees gives way to long stretches of dark brown dirt and dead leaves. The branches above grow thicker and block out the sun, making the trek into the forest eerie and foreboding.

Tander closes his eyes for a moment and allows electricity to crackle through his horns, lighting their path with a soft yellow glow. "Not far now." He mutters to himself, though in the silence of the forest everyone can hear him.

Suddenly a stone doorway seems to appear out of the darkness right before them, dug deep into a small hill that sits in the center of the dark forest. "Thank the Ancestors," Craindre whispers. "I thought we were lost."

Dunkel shakes his head as he steps up to Bricriu. Eyes widen, Bricriu stares at him as his black paws remove the purple chains, allowing them to drop to the ground beneath them.

Bricriu rubs his own paws lightly and nods his thanks before looking at the doorway. His jaw drops. "I've been here before." Craindre and Tander look at him, confused. "I-in a dream, it called to me to go in here." He moves to step forward, but realizes what the step could if his dream is so terrifyingly accurate.

They stare for a moment before Tander shrugs. "It's destiny then." He nods his head towards the doorway. "Now go find Minerva, and bring her out. Then we will let you go."

Bricriu whimpers softly and stares into the dark abyss of the temple entrance. "Go on greenie." Craindre mutters, her eyes darting from the entrance to the shadows around them. With no other choice, he walks forward towards the darkness.

He stumbles through the dark, trying in vain to use his tail to probe ahead of him, but it constantly misses the small holes and bumps in the old stone floor that trip him up. Eventually though, he gets an idea.

Focusing with his eyes closed, though doing so is pointless considering the darkness around him, he begins to think of a glowstick. Remembering the chemical composition from his chemistry classes, he thinks hard about them, bringing them into being through his magic and then opening his mouth.

A glowing ball of green chemicals leaps forth and slams against the ground wall directly in front of Bricriu, illuminating a small part of the cave. "Yes!" He shouts in triumph, then stops and turns to look back towards what he believes is the direction of the entrance to the temple.

There is no sign of the others outside the cave. "Hello!?" He calls out towards them, and gets a silent response. Frowning, he looks back towards the darker part of the hallway and continues on, drooling chemicals to give himself a way to cut through the inky blackness.

Soon he comes to a long set of stairs, just as he did in his dream nearly a week or two ago, and walks up them at a snail's pace, trying to make sure none of them will collapse under him and lead to some deadly trap.

When his paws finally hit the top of the stairwell, he breathes a small sigh of relief and strides forward with newfound conviction, only to walk straight into a small pedestal. No, The small pedestal from his dream. As he rubs his paw from the bump, he looks at it and gasps as he sees the same writing as before in the dim light coming from his maw.

He stares at it for a long while, trying to make it change, to shift to english like it did in the dream, but to no avail. This one seemed grounded in reality. And he already knew what it said anyways.

Gulping, he whispers the words softly. "Trials of Malefor."

He watches for any sign of change coming from around him, but there's no giveaway that by saying those words the temple has changed. Slowly though, he does begin to recognize something. An eerie feeling of being watched, a creeping claustrophobia of the darkness. Suddenly his chemical light doesn't seem enough to keep it at bay, and his heart begins to beat to a faster rhythm.

Panicking now, he walks back the direction he came in. His slow stride into the temple has quickly turned into a sprint as fear consumes his mind.

After a few minutes of sprinting down the hallway Bricriu takes a moment to stop and catch his breath. Panting softly, he allows his mouth to glow once again and spits another glob of chemicals against the floor. "W-where are the stairs?" He whispers to himself, looking ahead and then behind him. "Did I go the wrong way?"

And then the chanting starts.

The same chanting he heard echoing in his dream weeks ago now seems to float into his ears behind him. Terrified of what it might be emanating from, Bricriu runs forward quickly, his claws scraping the floor in the panic of his scramble to get away.

The light quickly fades away as he runs, yet the chanting never seems to grow quieter. Fear gripping his heart, he looks around again, not thinking to bother throwing any more light sources out in case the source of the whispering sees him and attacks.

Despite his best attempts to outrun it, the chanting grows louder slowly, surrounding him on all sides. Bringing his wings up to shield himself, he breaks suddenly and screams out. "WHAT ARE YOU!?"

There's a soft gasp to his left, as if someone was just waking up. Before he can be distracted by that, a line of strange engravings along both walls suddenly glow a dark red akin to blood. With the newfound light, Bricriu quickly assesses his surroundings, his breath coming out in soft pants.

In the direction he came there is no sign of the source of the chanting that has just as easily stopped as it had started. However the direction Bricriu was going towards in his mad dash holds a much stranger sight.

A brown dragoness sits just beneath a strange shrine, looking as dazed and confused as if she had just woken up and was not expecting to see him. Her scales are dull and her eight small horns are chipped, showing her age, and yet she still seems to be too small for it. Her body is still that of a teenager.

She and Bricriu stare at one another for a stretch of time, the only sound being their soft breaths, before she suddenly speaks up in a gravely tone, like she hasn't had a drink in days and every letter was pain. "So... You came back, huh?"

Bricriu stares at her, confused, as she slowly gets to her feet. "How long has it been?" She continues. "Since you ran away from me."

"Who are you?" Bricriu asks, and the dragoness stops. She stares at him for a moment, then screams out in anger and tackles him to the ground.

She snarls in his face. "So you've forgotten me too!? You mute monster!" Slapping him twice across the face, she suddenly slams her tail down. The ball end lands directly on Bricriu's left forepaw and he howls in pain.

Closing his eyes tightly with an animalistic snarl, he shoves the dragoness away and holds his paw. When he opens his eyes again, his jaw hits the ground.

Cloud stands in front of him, glaring angrily, her claws scraping against the stone floor of the temple, her scales a soft pink from the red tint of the symbols on the wall. "You left me alone!"

Bricriu's mouth opens and closes as he tries to process the situation and form words. Enraged by his silence, Cloud swings at him again, smacking him back to the ground.

"You fucking abandoned me Bricriu! How could you leave me!?" She screams at him, her voice echoing down the hallways and within his confused mind, making it hard for him to think of a response.

Putting his paws on her chest, he shoves her back, ignoring for a fleeting moment the agony in his left paw. "I didn't abandon you! I was banished! How could you forget?!" The words fly out on instinct, saving him the brain power being drained from his shock.

"I can never forget you, Bricriu! I could never!" She begins to cry, but still swings at him, forcing Bricriu to duck under the swipe of her tail. "I love you!"

"I love you too!" He screams, before the tail comes back and hits him across the face hard, causing him to stumble backwards and groan. "Cloud please stop!"

Cloud looks at him, wide eyed and fearful, then shakes her head. "I can't Bricriu! This place won't let us leave alive! I can hear him, in my head, telling me to take it! But we can't!"

"Take what?!" She doesn't answer him, and instead lunges for him. He side steps it and desperately looks around for whatever she's talking about.

Just above her head, on the shrine she was leaning against, sits a strange horned helm. The silver sheen of it reflects the red glow of the hallway, and as Bricriu rests his eyes upon it he becomes distinctly aware that the chanting has grown in crescendo.

Cloud glares as she sees Bricriu staring at it. "Get away from it! It's mine!" She charges at him.

Just barely managing to sidestep her, he rushes to the shrine and grabs the helmet off the shrine. The chanting is deafening in his mind now, along with the rushed, excited beat of his heart pounding in his ears. Seeing Cloud rushing at him once again, he does the only rational thing his mind can think of. He slips the helmet over his head, and it's a perfect fit.

Immediately Cloud disappears, and in her place that brown dragoness stands once again. She's glaring angrily at him. "How could you, Dunkel?! You know what that helm is! We came here to destroy it! To bury this whole place! How could you betray me like this!" She charges at him, head down, ready to impale him.

Thinking quickly, Bricriu stabs his tail forward, pressing it into her shoulder, then rolling to the side, throwing her off balance. He proceeds to push his syringe tip deep into her belly, and inject her with some potent paralysis instead of knockout.

She stares at the wound, then looks at Bricriu for a long moment. Slowly a clarity seems to cross her face, and she manages to squeak out. "You're not Dunkel," before her body goes limp and she collapses.

"As if it wasn't obvious enough." Bricriu mutters grimly, then looks around. Seeing a small square cut into the stone wall, he walks over and looks at the strange lettering. After a breath, they suddenly shift into english and are perfectly legible to him in the dim red light.

 _ **Helm of the Cold Blooded**_

 _ **Wear it with pride**_

 _ **For our lord will guide**_

 _ **Those who live long enough.**_

Bricriu stares at the words for a long while, then smirks. "Helm of the cold blooded. Guess dragons aren't that already?" He looks to Minerva and sees her eyes watching him closely. If she could glare, he's certain she would. "Guess not. Well, let's get you to your friends."

Carefully he hoists Minerva onto his back, groaning from the strain. "Ugh, you could stand to lose a few pounds you know." He mutters. She doesn't answer of course, but Bricriu doesn't seem to care in the slightest as he carries her down the hallway and to the main room with the other hallways adjacent the one he existed, each their own dark bits of despair. The red glow from the first hallway slowly dims as he exits, seeming to detect no life to torment within.

Stopping for a moment, he looks at the pedestal in the center of the room and grins as the words rearrange, allowing him to read it fluently. "Trial one complete then, Malefor. I'll be back for the rest someday." His grin fades and a steely look falls over his face. "After I get Cloud back."

Bricriu carefully climbs up the stairs of the temple, strolling at a leisurely pace, his face the epitome of triumph. Finally something was going right again. He had conquered a dungeon, like his games back home, defeated the final boss in the form of that terrible dream of Cloud, and was now walking out with a fine bit of loot for his efforts.

He attempted to glance up at said bounty, but the silver sheen of the horned helm is barely visible due to the darkness of the tunnel he's strutting down. Frowning, he sits carefully without letting who he can only assume to be Minerva slide off his back and reaches up with his paws to pull off the helm.

Only, his paws stop as they touch the cold metal, and he thinks for a moment. Taking off the helm now would do little. He can leave it on a little longer, until he gets out of this temple and into the sunlight.

Nodding in agreement with himself, he picks the brown dragoness backup and continues on, reaching the exit of the dark temple. The forest seems even darker then when he first entered the temple, and Minerva's paralyzed vocal cords manage to let out a squeak of fear. Bricriu, however, strode on with purpose, knowing the path he had to take to leave the forest like it was burned into his mind.

As the trees began to show the sky again, he glanced up and blinked a little in surprise at the pale moonlight streaming softly through the treeline, at the glittering stars behind the leaves. How long had he been down there, in that temple, running blindly in fear?

He shook his head, growling to himself. No more fear. No more running. No more cowardice. Cowardice got him banished. Strength would bring him back home, back to Cloud, back to civilization.

Keeping on the path now that he could barely see it, he kept his eyes roving over the treeline, searching for any sign of the other exiles who seem to have left. How long did they wait for him? An hour? Two? Maybe he should be counting down instead. They are more cowardly then he is.

Once he reaches the edge of the forest he sees them. The exiles had made a small fire and were each curled up around it against the soft chill in the air that doesn't bother Bricriu in the slightest. Not bothering to hide, he strides forward into the light.

Dunkel is the first to wake up. Upon seeing Minerva on Bricriu's back he seems to lock up, wide eyed. Craindre and Tander soon have the exact same problem as Bricriu approaches the fire and lays the dragoness down on the grass.

Dunkel snaps out of his stupor and runs over to her quickly. Seeing her unable to even wiggle her toes, he turns and snarls at Bricriu. "I had no choice." Bricriu says coldly. "She and I were under the effects of powerful fear magic. She actually saw me as you, Dunkel. Said I had abandoned her in the hallway."

Dunkel's eyes flash with anger and he moves to attack, but Bricriu steps back. "I'm only informing you of what had occurred. I promise." Minerva makes a small, weak whimper, and Dunkel returns his attention to her. Tander soon joins him, and together they put the paralyzed dragoness onto the electric dragon's back. Dunkel makes a point to nuzzle her cheek, to which she only whimpers again.

Craindre looks at Bricriu and frowns at the helmet. "Where did you get that?" Dunkel also looks over and he growls low, making Craindre stiffen up just a little.

Bricriu looks at them both, then tilts his head, the helm catching the fire light and refracting it back into Craindre's eyes. "It was a gift from the temple. I claimed it as my own." Dunkel growls again and slowly moves towards Bricriu, wing and tails low, not bothering to try and hide his hostilities. "I don't understand your anger Dunkel but I suggest you stop."

"Why do you sound different?" Tander mutters, turning carefully with Minerva. His yellow scales flicker between orange and gold in the light of the fire. "You're talking with a high and mighty attitude that I don't think I like."

"Am I? Hmm, didn't notice." His eyes dart across the camp. Surveying, analyzing. Tander would be slowed down by Minerva on his back. Craindre's fear magic will be useless as long as he has the helm on, and it will take her a moment to realize that. Dunkel was already ready for any move Bricriu could make, and with his limited training in combat, only about a week or two's worth, he would stand no chance against the dragon unless he got a lucky shot in.

All of his fights had come down to luck before, and he didn't want to start testing that luck now. So he sits back on the grass carefully and raises his paws towards his helm, wanting to take it off as a sign of good faith.

As his paws felt the cold metal, his claws scraping lightly against it, he stopped. Why should he prove himself to them? They sent him in there, Alone, to save Minerva. He's their hero, not the villain. And this helm was just another proof of his victory where the rest of them had failed.

He brings his paws back down to the ground, and Dunkel's claws sink deeper into the dirt. He makes it clear he's going to pounce from his stance. Bricriu doesn't ask how or why he knows that, he just accepts it as fact, and moves swiftly to counter it.

As Dunkel leaps through the air, Bricriu leaps backward with a flap of his wings. Dunkel swiftly recovers, but Bricriu is already attacking him first with a harsh swipe of his claws along the dragon's chest, managing to make Dunkel bleed. Tander's already moving to dump Minerva, but Bricriu is ready for it, rushing at him and pouncing on his unoccupied back to bite it hard.

Blood fills his mouth quickly, surprisingly sweet. He gets a brief flashback of the dummy's blood at the temple and briefly wonders why they're the same taste as poison infects Tander just like it had to Dunkel. Within seconds of each other, they drop to the ground, unconscious.

Bricriu snorts softly at the incompetence of the exiles before a loud scream reverberates through his skull along with a wave of fear magic. Whipping his head towards the source, he snarls angrily at Craindre and moves towards her.

Her eyes widen and she begins to back away, blasting wave after wave of pure, incomprehensible fear directly at him. Grinning wide, he tanks through every one as if they were simple gusts of a gentle breeze.

Craindre keeps screaming until the screams are out of magic and keeps screaming until Bricriu finally puts her to sleep with a quick and simple jab of his tail between her scales and into her chest.

He doesn't bother watching as she falls to the ground, turning quickly and walking to the chains that were used on him. Stretching them out across the grass and nodding to himself with approval, he moves each of the now unconscious dragons onto the line and chains them up, giving Dunkel the esteemed honor of being held in the same shackles used on Bricriu.

Finally, with all of them chained effectively around their forelegs, he grasps the chain carefully in his maw and begins to pull the group. It's tedious and difficult, but if he's going to have a single chance at a pardon. A chance to see Cloud again. A chance to make things right.

Each pull is driven by that last thought, spoken in a deep voice that beats within Bricriu's heart. To make things right.

 **AND THIS STORY IS NOT GOING TO DIE, NO MATTER HOW LONG IT TAKES TO PUSH OUT A CHAPTER!**


	11. Unfortunate Compromise

**Another month or so, another chapter. So sorry that I can't pump these out more regularly, But when you all read this, I have a genuine question. Am I being too vague with my characters? I feel like it's on purpose, that I want them to all be vague because none of them have any reason to give anything away at this moment.**

He knew, somehow, that Craindre was awake. Something in his brain just told him that her breathing, the way she groaned when she passed over a rock, her eyes moving beyond her eyelids. Stopping briefly, he used his long tail to snake out and tighten the chains around her forelegs before resuming dragging the four dragons behind him.

His muscles burned with exhaustion, but he couldn't afford to stop. Bricriu didn't know what it was that drove him so hard to get back to the city, but he wouldn't allow himself to halt the march, even for a second. The others could wake up, get free, and attack. They'd kill him.

He shook his head and stared straight ahead. Far, Far in the distance he could hear the calm, idle chatter of busy bustling streets Chatter meant civilization. He'd get to the city by any means necessary. "I will make things right!" He shouted suddenly, voicing his thoughts with triumph and power.

He heard her flinch and whipped around to stare at Craindre, waiting for her to open her ruby red eyes. After standing still for a full minute, she breaks first, and opens them just enough to peek through. But it's enough to give her away.

"Welcome back to the land of the living Craindre." Bricriu hisses her name, and she opens her eyes enough to glare at him. He returns the look with a charming smile that she doesn't dignify with a response.

Craindre looks down at her chained forepaws and then looks behind her, at her companions in a similar predicament. Her tail tucks with Minerva so close to her rear. "You seriously couldn't have gotten a longer chain from the cave?" She grumbles, more to herself than to him, as she works to remove the chains, scraping her scales as a result.

"No time to. And I highly doubt that the others haven't seen you in tied up before. It suits you quite well." Bricriu says condescendingly, turning his gaze back towards the smoke in the distance. "Tell me, is the city in that direction?"

"What?" Craindre asks, then turns in the same direction he's looking. "I don't know. I haven't been to the city in years." She looks down at the chains once again. The dark purple hues gave her no comfort. "You know these chains will kill us eventually right? They'll drain our magic, then our life force."

Bricriu manages to drag his gaze away from the distant horizon. "Then you better help me move your companions faster, shouldn't you?" Craindre stares up at his cold emerald eyes before carefully climbing to her paws, limping in a strange, three legged stance as Bricriu coils his tail around the end of the chain and assisting her in dragging the others across the dirt.

"Why are you doing this?" Craindre growls low, her paw snagging uncomfortably with each step. "They won't let you back into the city, greenie. Even bringing us in won't do anything except get us all put on death row!"

Bricriu stops for a moment, body language impassive. For the briefest of moments, his voice actually sounds normal once again. "I'm sorry to hear that." Craindre's eyes widen with the smallest spark of hope that is quickly smothered as he continues. "But if there is even a chance that they will let me back in, then I have to take it."

"You've lost your mind!" Craindre shrieks. "Greenie, it's the helmet! It's doing something to you! It's cursed!"

Bricriu laughs a little. "It's the most wonderful curse I have ever seen then. But no, this is just me, a better me. Do you think that the old me would have been able to survive out here, with you? He did nothing but rely on others. He was a coward, who used everyone else's pity to skate by in life and achieve nothing at all. Now he's truly a dragon." Briefly, his claws dig into the dirt, uprooting the grass. Lifting his paw up, he shakes it for a moment with a small sound of disgust to get the dirt off.

Craindre's eyes are as wide as dinner plates as she stares at him. Not bothering to look back over his shoulder, Bricriu tugs on the chain, almost making her fall flat on her face as he forces her to resume the march. With a soft, nearly undetectable whimper, she continues to drag her companions with the insane dragon ahead.

The mountain path is the worst, with jagged rocks strewn about digging into her, one claw twisting out of shape and making her yelp in pain. Looking down, blood begins to form from the wound and she sighs. Leaning down swiftly, she nips her claw and yanks it away, crying out again. Bricriu finally turns to look over his shoulder as she tugs on the chain. "My paw is bleeding. A talon had to be removed and I can't walk like this. We need to stop!" She shouts, trying to keep a leash on her anger that feeds off the pain like a fire.

Bricriu lets go of the chain and approaches her slowly, watching her every move. Feigning obedience, she lifts her paw and whimpers like a wounded animal.

His face barely shifts as he speaks, his eyes harsh as they look up at her, his mouth opening just enough to get the words necessary for the situation out. "You'll live." He turns and reaches his tail out for the end of the chain once again.

Snarling, she pulls the chain away with her paws, wincing as Bricriu's head snaps back to look at her. "I need you to stop! Please, I'm begging you! It will be a small camp, just enough to g-"

"By the time you're paw has healed, it would have been a day or two." Bricriu says coldly, walking towards her and grabbing the chain in his coiled tail. "Your companions would be awake, and I would need to sleep. Eventually, you would attempt to break free together, and I would be forced to take some sort of an action. I would need to expend most of my magical energy to keep all four of you drugged long enough to allow me to sleep. To keep marching is the safest option for myself, and for all of you." He tugs on the chain lightly, trying to get her to stand once again as blood droplets slide down and onto the dirt.

"Fucking ASSHOLE!" She screams. Tander finally stirs behind her, his drug induced dreams being broken by her piercing tone. "We let you live and you repay us with this!? They're going to kill us when we get to the city!"

"So you keep saying." Bricriu mutters with a sigh, then looks back as the sound of two pairs of claws scraping across the dirt. "Ah, good. You're awake Tander. Maybe now you can help explain why setting up any sort of camp would be disadvantageous for me?"

Tander surveys his surroundings quickly and completely ignores the green dragon's question, insteading looking at Craindre. They have a silent conversation before their captor, eyes widening and narrowing, mouth contorting into frowns and one sly smile from Tander that is responded to with a growl. Briefly, Bricriu wonders whether the fear dragoness somehow has a psychic link on the lightning dragon.

Tander speaks first, turning his head to look at Bricriu. "Where are you taking us?" His forelegs attempt to pull the chain apart, muscles bulging as he tries and fails to break them. Craindre glares at him angrily but he doesn't see it.

"I am taking you to the city, where I shall be bargaining for my exilement to be lifted and I can return to society as soon as possible." Bricriu says smoothly.

Tander busts up laughing, deep and loud. "You really think they'll let you in, just like that?! You're an idiot, greenie!"

Bricriu sits, unconcerned by the obvious flaws in his plan. "Yes Tander. Just like that." Tander keeps laughing at the dragon, but Craindre sits in silence, still holding her injured paw in a vain attempt to try and stem the blood flow and the pain.

Tander was still laughing when the red dragoness suddenly collapsed to the ground, eyes rolled back before their lids closed around them. He heard the thump and jumped back slightly in surprise. "Sweet ancestors! What the hell happened?!"

Bricriu shrugs nonchalantly as he pulls his tailblade out of her back, the poison still dripping lightly from the tip. "Dunno. Must have needed a camp more than I thought. But now you're here Tander! So you may continue to do the honors of helping me drag everyone along, if you would be so kind."

Tander looks at him and growls low. "What do you expect to happen when you bring five criminals to the gates, huh? We are all going to be killed for this, and you with us!"

Bricriu huffs. "Yes, that's what Craindre kept saying. Now let's go, hm? Can't keep death waiting too long." He tugs on the chain, pulling Craindre's limp body up past an uncomfortable bit of rock and rubble in the path. Growling still, Tander is forced to follow behind Dunkel, his ability to walk much better than Craindre with his paws tied.

"Have some experience with being in chains, do you?" Bricriu asks over his shoulder after they had crested the mountain. Tander's part of the chain had formed a bulge in the line with his work, allowing them to share the haul of Craindre and Dunkel.

Tander's claws dig into the ground as he marches. "Sure. That's why I know we will be dead soon enough."

Bricriu nods slowly, mulling over the new information. "How long have you been an exile Tander? Do you have family, friends?"

"Why in the world would I ever tell you that shit?" Tander snarls as he glances sidelong towards the green dragon almost directly to his left.

"To pass the time, and because you are going to die soon, so it will not matter." Bricriu responds calmly, keeping his gaze on the horizon, searching for the source of the chatter he heard just beyond the hill. Maybe it had stopped?

No. There, to the north. The sound of something striking an anvil in a steady rhythm. A master of his craft, working hard to fill out the requests of one client or another. A sure sign of a civilization.

"What are you staring at?" Tander says lowly, looking over in that direction and seeing nothing.

"Not staring at anything, my friend." Tander's claws dig in once again at the title, but Bricriu repeats what he asked. "How young were you when you became an exile, Tander?"

Tander scowled and says slowly, calculating his words.. "I was thirteen years old when the guardians sent me away. That's the age you're allowed to be exiled at, anyways. Parent's just couldn't wait to get rid of me, since they couldn't get rid of my friends."

Bricriu's brow raised in silent question, and Tander took the symbolic nudge to continue. "My friends were druggies and crooks, whores and assassins." A quick glance back at his current friends tied to the chain was all it took for Bricriu to piece together that one or all of these dragons fit into one description or another. "They treated me better than anyone in the temple or at home."

Bricriu continued to stare at his prisoner, daring to stop the march for a brief moment to consider his words carefully, and force some semblance of care into them. "Understandable." Bricriu mutters softly, and Tander looks up at him, linking eye contact. "When you've sunk to the lowest dregs of society, you tend to be more understanding towards the problems of others. After all, you've lived through every bit of torture the world can throw at you. Why would you ever want to see someone join you in hell?"

Tander blinks, caught off guard by his captors response. "Uhhh... Yeah. Guess so?" He manages to say, before turning his head to look away and think. Bricriu smiles a little to himself, proud to have been able to convince Tander to talk with him. Somewhere in the distance, a church bell rings to signal the passing of noon.

The path lead down the otherside of the hill, and as they reached the bottom grass began to return to the dirt road. Bricriu stretched his toes out, allowing them to feel the earth for a moment before continuing with the walk some more. Tander doesn't bother with the stop to enjoy it, instead choosing to keep pressing on, either waiting for an opening to escape or eager to get this over with.

Bricriu smiles softly to himself at the thought. He knows despite what he said to Craindre that if it came down to it, he could easily beat all four dragons when they are chained up like this. A quick jab from his tail would put them all to sleep, allowing him to recharge his magicka batteries and continue the march.

However, something in his mind told him he would not find sleep if he tried. Not until he was safe and free within the city, ready to return to Cloud. He could almost hear her voice now, calling out to him from far in the distance. With a soft purr that Tander does not pick up, Bricriu picks up his pace, tail kept from wagging simply because it has to hold onto the end of the chain.

Tander's head turns towards the setting sun, grumbling as his wings and tail lower. "Craindre is right. We do need to camp. I really don't wanna go marching through the forest in the dark." Deciding that for himself, he suddenly sits on the grass. "Any spot will do, I know we won't care. But if you truly plan to get to the city, we will need to rest."

"It's not that far off at all, Tander." Bricriu says sharply in response. "And if you truly need to rest, I'm sure I can assist you." His tail tip raises for emphasis as he turns to the yellow dragon.

Tander glowers at him and slowly stands up. For a brief, hopeful moment Bricriu hopes the foolish dragon will try to pick a fight despite being at a clear disadvantage, but instead Tander resumes walking obediently, forcing out a small sigh of disappointment from Bricriu as he follows behind, with the others still unable to stir.

It takes two more hills before Tander strikes up a new conversation. "What makes you so sure the city is in this direction, greenie?"

"It's laughable that you have to ask, Tander." Bricriu says without a single shred out of doubt. "We can hear the city from here."

Tander's head tilts quizzically, then he looks around, listening very closely. "I hear bugs and birds and other nature stuff, but no sign of any other dragons... You must be really exhausted. You need to sleep."

"Is that your best attempt at convincing me now, Tander?" Bricriu chuckled softly and looked over at the setting sun as well, a frown creeping over his face. "That's strange. I could have sworn that I heard the bells chime noon." He shakes his head, shrugging it off as his imagination as he looked around at the small clearing at the base of the hill. A tree on the far left side had a wide trunk.

Tugging the chain to the left, Bricriu nods his head. "C'mon Tander. You're right. I'll let you get some rest." A wide smirk forms on his snout as he audibly hears Tander's gulp. "Oh don't fret so much. I'm sure you'll be comfy."

"I swear if you tie us to that tree I'm going to shove that tail down your throat and tickle your intestines with it!" Tander shouts, pulling angrily on the chain. Whipping his head around to face the yellow dragon, Bricriu bares his teeth and pounces at him without warning. Tander weakly holds up his bound paws, but the move is held back by his tied down companions.

Bricriu wastes no time sinking his teeth into his opponent's shoulder and hacking up knockout poison to coat the wound. By the time Tander's jaw opens to clamp down on Bricriu's knees, the damage is already done and Bricriu has already leapt away, leaving his teeth to close around air.

Tander groans as his vision turns black and he falls to his side, unable to catch himself to keep his left shoulder from colliding with a particularly nasty rock hidden beneath the grass. The crack of scales briefly fills the air, giving Bricriu pause for a brief moment. But seeing no sign of blood, Bricriu continues with his plan.

Grasping the chain firmly between his jaws, Bricriu wraps the four dragons around the tree he saw, pinning each of them around the stomach with their forelegs held down. Making sure the whole thing is secure, he smiles at his handiwork before going to Craindre and giving her just a small extra dose of poison with a quick jab in the neck before moving to the next in line.

Coming to Minerva, Bricriu smiles a little at her. She still has shown no signs of the poison fading from her system meaning she's incredibly susceptible to it. One small dose for her coming right up, in the form of a small drop placed from his tongue onto his claws. Slowly, he slid the claws into her mouth, past her teeth, allowing

A black tail wraps around his arm and yanks it down, away from her face and slamming it into the ground. Hissing in slight pain, Bricriu looks up at the angry, cold eyes of a very much awake Dunkel. For a moment he was forced to pause, recognizing the mirror look of what he had looked like every time he saw Tander and Craindre this whole trip.

Then the tail tightened around his paw, the sword blade at the end threatening to dig out a scale. Growling, Bricriu grasps just above the blade and struggles, slowly pulling it away from his leg, paw shaking from the stress. The tail tightens more, threatening to break bones, and Bricriu stabs his tailblade directly into the black dragon's stomach, using the last of his poison to quickly put the dragon back to sleep before he loses the use of his paw.

Dunkel's eyes refuse to close as his grip relaxes and he slumps forward in sleep. Bricriu stares up at them for another long moment, then steps away, out of range of the tail. Regaining his composure, Bricriu backs away, not taking his eyes off Dunkel as he moves to the deep brush of a different tree and curls up, hoping the grass will hide his scales from shining in the moon and sunlight.

Briefly, the thought of the helm manages to appear within his mind. It's illustrious silver sheen is sure to give him away if the dragons get free. His eyes roll up to try and look at it, but are once again met with nothing but the sunset sky, illuminated faintly with shades of orange and red. Bringing his backside down against the grass, he reaches up and places his paws on either side of the helm once again.

A low growl creeps up his spine and into his ears. With a panicked gasp he lets go of the helm and whips around, examining the area slowly.

No sound except some crickets, coming to life in the distance as darkness arose, signalling for them to sing their one note song. He pays them no mind as he tries to keep his eyes peeled for another dragon or wild beast that had growled.

A minute passes by, then two, with the only sound being that of those damn crickets. Sighing to himself, Bricriu sits back and brings his paws back to the helm and yanks it off his head.

No sign of the creature, not a single peep. The crickets continue to hum as Bricriu slowly sets the helm down on the ground. The warmth that had been held with there by his skull is sapped away nearly instantly, and with it a resounding feeling of regret.

Bricriu's eyes turn soft as he looks at the four dragons he has drugged and chained to the tree, forced to sleep in that uncomfortable position for the entire night. He looks at them, at their necks bent in awkward slopes, Dunkel's eyes still uncomfortably open. As if he was still watching the green dragon. Seeing the sudden internal debate that was raging all because he took off the helm.

The helm. Bricriu's head whips back around to look at it, the rising moonlight reflecting off of it between the shadows of the leaves. It shimmers with an almost ethereal light, glowing every so often as the branches part just enough in the breeze to allow the moon's soft touch upon it.

Bricriu shudders at it and looks away. The dragons said it was cursed and evil, and yet it was so shiny and pure looking. Evil objects aren't supposed to look good, they're supposed to be dark and scary, with bits hanging out and spikes everywhere, so that it looks like you're wearing some magical monster's hide when you see it. Not as if it was created by a god or goddess for a chosen hero.

The rest of the forest was dim compared to the helm. Leaves, grass, bark, all of them were terrifying because they were so dull and pale. It was an effort to move his paws, to walk away from it and towards the dragons he had prisoner.

Craindre shivered from tail to head in his presence. Somehow he couldn't blame her. His paws were slow as they went up to Tander's belly, reaching for those dark, magic siphoning chains, ready to release his prisoners and run for the hills, hoping they wouldn't chase.

He stopped suddenly, and found himself staring into the purple hues, accented with white and silver from the near-full moon above. Within it he could see his eyes, emerald and full of fear. The same fear that had driven him for most of his life.

Fear of the people, fear of failure, fear of never being good enough. Why did he have to be so afraid?

A soft voice read his mind as he stepped away from Tander, who gave no sign he had felt the dragon's approach. "You don't have to be afraid anymore." Bricriu's head whips around, searching for the source of the voice, and lock onto the helm.

The five horns curved backwards, casting a shadow along the grass that looks eerily like a claw scraping across the dirt for freedom. Bricriu found his paws moving on their own, and yet it felt like he was drawn towards the helm completely by his own accord. There was no external force manipulating him, no magic chaining him down.

Because it felt good to have the helm on, he realized. The thought grew in power with each step. He felt like he was in control, like he was powerful. It was disturbing, it was unusual, but it was addicting, and it was amazing.

His thoughts and movements were his own as he looks back at the dragons once more, clouds floating across the sky to cover the moon slowly, and cover the world in a dark shadow that made it difficult to see the prisoners.

He should help them. He has always been a nice guy, a good guy who likes to help people, who would never take people prisoner just because he wanted to. It wasn't right to do this, to hold them like this, not when they deserved to be free as exiles. They had suffered enough. Tander was proof of that.

His eyes turned back towards the helmet as light slowly returned to the glade, allowing its illustrious shine to cross his face. And yet.

And yet his paws moved towards the helm of their own accord, his eyelids narrowing as he saw a bit of dirt clung desperately to it. He blows it away carefully and smiles to himself, before raising his paws higher.

And yet his worries seemed to slip away when he allowed the helm to slip into his head, covering his scalp and returning him to peaceful thoughts of just being right. Everything he had done, all of it, from his failures to successes, all had been the right thing to do.

No longer caring if the helm gave him away in his pathetic excuse for camouflage, his mind completely at ease, he curled up in the grass and slept peacefully with the crickets and critters of the land.

 **OKAY SO I AM GONNA UPLOAD THIS CHAPTER RIGHT NOW AND GONNA GET THE NEXT ONE OUT ASAP I AM VERY SERIOUS ABOUT THIS YOU CAN TELL BECAUSE I REFUSE TO USE PUNCTUATION AND ALSO IN ALL CAPS!**

 **Love you all thank you all for still reading 3**


	12. Crueler Fates than Death

**I'm definitely working as fast as I can! I totally wasn't making you all wait an incredibly long amount of time for no reason other than I haven't really felt like writing! Yeah that's insane to think about! I'd never do that! Hahahahahahaaaaaaaa... fuck me.**

Bricriu awoke slowly to the sweet sound of suffering dragons, stiff from being forced to sleep in such an uncomfortable position. A cruel grin spread across his face and he stood carefully, stretching out his legs until his bones let out a satisfactory click, then padded out of the grass and took in the view.

Tander was struggling against the chain, trying to worm his paws down into a position where he could push against the chains to loosen them. His eyes shut as Bricriu stood, mouth a straight line of exertion. He must have woken recently and had just started, because there were no signs of success yet. Craindre was watching him, her own paws limp as she didn't bother to struggle, apparently submitting to her fate.

Minerva's tail was wrapped around Dunkel's own as the black dragon slept, her eyes darting from his face for a brief moment as Bricriu approaches. Her warning growl at him notifies the other two of his approach, and the color drains from their scales, making them go slightly pale. The sight of it forces a chuckle out of Bricriu's mouth.

"Good morning my friends." Bricriu says with all the cheerfulness rotten apple. Minerva's answering growl was the only sound, which is dutifully ignored. "How did we all sleep?"

The responses are full of negativity and hatred, with a colorful rainbow of curses spewed from all three conscious dragons. Bricriu sighs softly and then looks to Dunkel. "And what's your opinion on matters, Dunkel?"

"He's asleep damn you, now leave him be!" Minerva shouts out of fear rather than anger, her tail coiling tighter around his under the them both. Her brown eyes were the same color as the tree bark behind her, and Bricriu took a moment to stare deeply into them, uncaring that it made her squirm all the more.

Bricriu suddenly snorts. "Do you really think I am foolish enough to fall for that yet again Dunkel?" He approaches the dragon and pats his belly, the others watching his every movement very closely.

Sure enough, Dunkel's eyes popped open, pupils meeting perfectly with Bricriu's own, catching all the other dragons off guard. Bricriu manages to keep his surprise down to a single flash of emotion in his eyes, but it's enough for Dunkel to notice and allow for a slow, creeping smile to spread, exposing his teeth.

Bricriu simply returned the smile, a soft purr rising from his maw. "There's those deep pools of yours." He mutters, though loud enough for everyone to hear him. Dunkel didn't flinch, didn't even blink, as Bricriu drew as close as he dared, well within biting distance.

Nearly snout to snout, Bricriu could feel the breaths the dragon was taking in and pushing out through his nostrils rush down his neck. "Maybe I should drug you now, and have your friends drag you once again, hm?"

His friends growl around him, Minerva loudest of all, but Dunkel remains stone faced. Bricriu continues to stare at him for a moment longer, then shrugs. I'll just let you drag them this time, since they're obviously exhausted."

He had snaked his tail up to her left hind leg as they had talked, and he stabs it forward, sinking the needle into Minerva's thigh. She lets out a strangled gasp of shock and whimpers out. "Dunkel!"

The dragon's eyes flash and he lunges forward, chomping down so fast his snout is a blur at the empty air where Bricriu's head was for a brief moment, pulled away once the poison had been injected. His snarl that ripped through the air sent birds nearby flying into the air with its force.

Yet Bricriu remained unphased. "Hm, you're right. I can't have you awake now, you'll try to kill me every step of the way." Moving his tail over, he stabs forward into Dunkel, who can only watch helplessly and hold Minerva's tail for a few moments longer before he slips off and loses his grip, slowly uncoiling his from hers.

"You're a fucking monster Bricriu!" Tander spat his name out, Craindre wisely staying silent and even refusing to make eye contact with the green dragon still adorned in his shiny silver helm.

Bricriu looks to him and nods in a contemplative manner. "Yes, that is what you all keep saying. But you'll be free of me soon enough." Looking back in the direction of the city, Bricriu smiled at the sound of children laughing in the streets, the call of merchants selling their wares in the street. A female's scream of either delight or fear. The sounds of civilization.

Craindre and Tander stare at him in confusion as his eyes drift slowly to meet the red dragoness's followed by the yellow dragon beside her. "Well we best not keep life waiting, hm?" He says with a calm tone, then walks around the tree, grabbing the chain and tugging it free.

Craindre and Tander cry out in surprise as they flop to the ground with no way of catching themselves, Craindre letting out a colorful string of curses to let the world know she had landed on her ruined paw.

Bricriu pads back around the tree and gets two snarls of rage for it, of which he makes no response. "Why didn't you just knock me out, damn it!?" Craindre shouts out angrily.

"I'm sure Tander will appreciate having you awake to help him, Craindre." Bricriu picks up the end of the chain as it lays across the grass, shaking it slightly to remove a clingy insect before tugging on it roughly, and forcing the dragons awkwardly to their feet. "It won't be long now, I assure you."

Tander's voice is still filled with bubbling rage as his maw opens, making Bricriu's eyes nearly roll out of their sockets with the incredible stupidity of his prisoner as he hears the words. "You have no clue where we are going you absolute maniac! You're going to walk up in circles!"

"Oh rest assured Tander, I know exactly where I am going." Bricriu says calmly, heading towards the mountain at its least steep path.

"How?!" Tander shouts. "There is no sign of the city in that direction!"

Bricriu laughs. "Sure it is, if you listen closely enough. Maybe all this time away from it has made you forget what a city sounds like." Craindre and Tander exchange a terrified glance. Bricriu doesn't care, pulling on the chain once more and making them both work once again to drag the other two across the dirt.

Bricriu can hear the hissing of whispers behind him, and hums a soft tune as a subtle way of letting them know that they could be heard, even though he didn't understand exactly what was being discussed. Unfortunately, it didn't work, and he felt his eyelids narrow at the continued conniving behind him.

But nothing short of drugging the two dragons would stop them, he knew, and so he continued marching on, happy to let them both drag their unconscious comrades over the rise.

When he reached the top, Bricriu took in the view ahead, his eyes surveying the distance closely. Open fields with small patches of trees as far as the eye could see, and a small rocky range of mountains. And nestled under a massive overhang lied the golden dragon city Bricriu had known was there.

A large, smug smile pasted itself on his face, and he allowed that smugness to shine through into his full body as he turns to look at his prisoners and give a soft nod of his head up the hill with an encouraging. "C'mon, you're almost there."

His helm catches the light in its horns, shining down onto the dragons' faces perfectly. Bricriu tilts his head and makes the glint go away, but takes notice of the beautiful sheen as the two dragons carefully march past him to look around.

The helm looked like claws in the ground, digging in with bright beams of light, his head's shadow being the palm. It was impressive just how much effort went into the simple piece of metal to make it so foreboding in day or night.

Craindre was first to notice the city in the distance, if her surprised cry was anything to go by. Turning slightly, Bricriu watched her point it out to Tander, noting the dragon's struggle to see the buildings in the distance, before echoing her surprise with his own shout.

"Well then," Bricriu finally allows that smugness to seep into his voice, "seems I'm not as crazy as you all would like to think." He pads up to join them at the crest of the hill, looking at the city, at the vast plains that lay before them to walk, and frowned.

The others realized his problem moments later, when their gaze also dropped away from the city to the road ahead. "There's absolutely no way we can walk that!" Craindre cried, with Tander again voicing his agreement.

Bricriu looked to them both, at Craindre's wounded paw as she held it up to his face, and grumbled. "There is a way. The problem is not impossible, it will just be difficult and time consuming for us." His eyes search the countryside nearby, and his eyes lock on a town near the base of some nearby mountains, placed well within walking distance of a river, and far closer than the city in the distance. "There." He lifts a paw and points with a single talon. The others follow his paw silently. "We will go there and get a transport for ourselves."

"You're expecting a lot of stuff to go your way." Tander mutters, but makes sure he's loud enough to be heard as Bricriu walks past him. He does nothing but grab the end of the chain once again and tug them carefully down the hill.

Tander's stomach growled in protest loudly halfway down the cliffside, and soon Craindre's gave the same call. They both grumbled something about being desperate for a meal, and even dare to tug on the chains, demanding Bricriu's attention. He gives them it in the form of a cold glare down the length of his snout.

"We need something to eat!" Craindre growls, neither of them breaking eye contact with him as his gaze shifts from one to the other.

Finally he opens his mouth, after drifting between the two for a few seconds to make his choice. "You will have plenty to eat when we reach our destination." The growls towards him have more venom than any snake back home. "Or you will eat in prison, I don't care."

Tander snarled angrily, but Craindre suddenly sighed and dropped her gaze, beginning to move down the slope once more. Confused, Tander watches her, unmoving. "C'mon Tander." She calls out without looking back, before her voice drops down to low muttering. "He's never going to let us go."

Tander blinks twice at her, at her lowered wings, tail, and head, then looks at Bricriu up and down. He gives the cursed dragon a glare that promises death and then walks awkwardly after Craindre, working together to drag their companions down the path with as few bumps or scratches on their scales as they can hope to avoid.

Bricriu watches them closely, then follows after his prisoners, allowing them to lead him for what little time they will be left in these chains and forced to march for him.

As they reach the edge of the town Bricriu's eyes widen in surprise. More than just dragons lived here. Strange cheetahs walked on two legs wandered around with the dragons, helping them to carry boxes that could not normally be carried by the creatures on two legs. All their eyes slowly turned to look at the four dragons in chains, murmuring quickly filling the street.

The hushed, confused whispers soon turned to fear and worry as the purple sheen of the chains came further into view, glimmering with a soft darkness despite the high sun. And then eyes shifted to Bricriu, and those who had gathered went silent as the dragon wearing the helm followed silently behind his captives.

Tander slowly took the lead from Craindre, heading towards the road leading to the city, and the dragons standing there beside a long line of carriages. Clad in the armor of the city guard, the dragons were talking with a cheetah who seemed to be the caravan's leader. Both stopped as the chained dragons approached, Craindre moving to stand beside Tander as he stopped and stared at the leader.

Careful to avoid eye contact with his prisoners, Bricriu moves around them both and coldly stares at the guards as they look at him. Their leader, a fire dragon if the orange scales under his captain's armor are anything to go off of, takes a few paw steps forward. "What is all this?"

Bricriu clears his throat before speaking. "These are prisoners. Exiles from the city. Criminals who refuse to die as they should. I have brought them to trade. Them for transport into the city and a chance to negotiate a pardon."

A hush fell over the guards for a moment, the only sound being distant birds, bugs, and laughter of children. Then suddenly a snort from an earth dragon, followed by similar sounds of held back laughter just before they all burst out. One dragoness can't even remain standing, falling to her side and clutching her stomach. Bricriu politely waits for them to finish before continuing. "If anything, I simply wish to be let back in as a citizen. I do not need to go back to the temple."

The fire dragon in charge composes himself slowly, taking deep breaths to get his smile to disappear. Even then, as he talks, his companions laughter forces him to laugh as well. "Are... Are you serious?" A long pause as the captain laughs once more.

"Deathly serious sir." Bricriu says calmly, managing to force out a small smile. Turning to look back at his prisoners, Minerva and Dunkel are still seemingly unconscious. Tander looks annoyed at the guards unable to hold themselves together, but Craindre looks saddened. Like this wasn't her first time dealing with guards like this.

"You really are full of yourself huh?" The captain finally says, Bricriu turning to meet his light orange-yellow gaze. "You expect this plan of yours to work." Bricriu frowned but otherwise said nothing as the captain continued, the last of the laughter finally calming down behind him. "These are Exiles, correct? As in people we wanted to stay as far away from our home as physically possible? And now you've brought four of them, in contraband chains no less! To trade your exile for them?"

A small flicker of worry in Bricriu's mind, but he didn't let it show as the captain barked orders to remove the exile's chains and store them in the carriages, away from the other supplies that were being hauled to the city. Then he addressed Bricriu once again. "You are an exile as well, correct? So what made you think you would be wanted here?"

"I have walked far with these four." Bricriu mutters softly. "In the hopes that I could get back inside and continue normal life. Please, do not just throw it all away."

"Awwwwww, poor you." The captain pouts, then rolls his eyes. "You're an exile. It's a life sentence, bud. There is no way to get that sentence revoked. Now I suggest you get as far away from here as you possibly can, considering your "travel companions" probably want to have a few "words" with you." He uses his wings to make the air quotes as some of his fellow guards move to stand behind him once more, still grinning at Bricriu.

Bricriu only tilts his head and looks back at the four in question. Tander and Craindre are talking with one of the female guards, and keep glancing over at Bricriu as they talk. He then turns back to the captain and looks him up and down, making up his mind slowly. "You know I could kill you right now." He says suddenly, calmly, softly.

The captain blinks, then laughs again. "You're absolutely crazy! It's adorable." Bricriu only nodded his head slowly and parted his lips just enough for his breath to pass through.

And then his breath turned green.

A fear dragoness was the first to notice it and her cry of alarm causes the others to leap back quickly. Bricriu continues to expel the mist from his maw as the guards raise their wings together and in a coordinated push, shove Bricriu to the ground on his back while simultaneously pushing all traces of the mist back behind him and directly into his ex-prisoners faces. Craindre and Tander both panic for a brief moment before collapsing to the ground.

Two paws step down on his throat and he feels his airway close, cutting off the gas. One dragon then reaches into a pack he had strapped to his side and working with his team they force Bricriu's maw open and then close it around a light purple gag.

The center of it glows with a bright magenta glow and Bricriu can feel his powers leaving once again. He groaned softly but closed his eyes to signal his surrender. Still they held his paws down until he groaned again in pain, then carefully climbed off of him and watched him closely.

"What in the ancestors were you thinking, buddy?" The captain hisses down at him. Bricriu looks up at him with a glare, but with the gag in his mouth he is unable to say anything other than muffled mumbles. "Get him loaded into a carriage. I guess we have to take him to the city now." Nodding to their captain, three dragons step forward and lift Bricriu up onto the back of the largest dragon there, a fear dragon. Carefully, they load him in the final carriage, apparently seeing no need to chain him down.

Bricriu stands to his feet and reaches up for the gag to remove it when a strange swirling ball of dark green is tossed into the carriage. Staring at it, Bricriu sighs and puts his paws back down, trying to curl up into a comfortable position before the ball suddenly explodes, enveloping his entire body with a potent poison. He breathes deeply, hoping to avoid any ill effects upon waking as his eyes roll back and he collapses onto the carriage floor with a loud thump.

Walking away from the carriage, Captain Casca looked at the exiles lying on the ground. A brown earth dragoness, a yellow lightning dragon, a red fear dragoness, and a black shadow dragon, each snoozing peacefully away thanks to that crazy poison dragon's venom. It didn't matter if it was not lethal, the fact that he was threatening guards with it was enough to get him at least a few decades in prison.

These four had dirt under almost every scale, and reeked to the core and back. The fact that the new exile could handle being around them either meant he was nose blind or just didn't care, or even a combination of both. He didn't care in any case, the crazy freak was far away in dreamland now. Which left Casca to deal with the helmet wearing dragon's prisoners.

Stepping closer slowly, Casca's eyes drift over each of them once again. He sees the wound on Craindre's paw and flinches, picturing her marching days without any medical attention. Most likely it would get infected if he left it untreated, but he had orders to never help exiles. All his guards did. But to leave her like this could mean she would lose her paw.

Casca sighed, and made his decision, ordering one of his friends to get the town healer over here. It may be a very small loophole, but it might be enough to keep him from losing his job or getting demoted.

When the cheetah arrived, carrying a small pouch of medicinal supplies and herbs, Casca ordered the cheetah to look over the fear dragoness' paw. Without a second thought he got to work, and Casca sighed in relief. Either this one didn't know or didn't care about the law. And that was fine by him, as long as he didn't have to deal with this group ever again.

With that taken care of, Casca stepped away to allow the cheetah as much space as possible to work. A soft grunt quickly draws his attention away from the healer, along with a wriggling under his paw. Scrambling back, Casca follows the tail he was standing on to the source, and looks directly in the eyes of the shadow dragon.

Cold. Unyielding. Deep. Casca could feel the blood drain from his face as he stared into the dragon's eyes. Not bothering to break eye contact, the dragon stands carefully, stretching his now free forelegs out with a soft clicking sound as his bones snap into place. The other guards take notice and quickly move into another fighting position behind Casca, but the dragon makes no move to attack, only stares at Casca.

Those eyes seemed to stir a fleeting memory in his mind, and he quickly grasped it before it faded away. "I know you, don't I?" The dragon slowly nodded in confirmation, and Casca thought long and hard for whom exactly this dragon was. Out of all the shadow dragon exiles, who would be most likely to show up with this crew and to have such deep eyes.

It came to him in a flash. "You're the dragon from the cult! The one who murdered that-" Casca was cut off by the dragon growling low, nodding his head behind the captain and towards the carriage. Looking back, Casca shakes his head. "Don't worry. He is unconscious, and cannot hear us."

"The Helm." The black dragon muttered in a coarse voice that sounded like it hurt to speak. Though knowing what that strange cult of the valley's trainees went through, it wouldn't surprise Casca at all if it did hurt. "Remove it."

Casca blinked at the tone, the demand in his words, and continued to look at the dragon's eyes. No pleading or begging was seen, only hard resolve. The kind of look that seemed to speak for him "If you do not do as I tell you to," it seemed to say to him, "then I will do it myself. By whatever means I must." Slowly, Casca nodded, and turned to order his guards to remove the dragon's helm and store it in one of the empty crates as evidence.

He turned back to find the dragon's gaze had shifted to the others that were chained with him, now lying in awkward angles on the dirt. Specifically, the dragon stared at the brown dragoness, and despite the cold exterior those of the cult were meant to hold, Casca could see the light of compassion in the dragon's dark eyes. Backing away, he muttered to the exile. "Thank you for your information and cooperation. May the wind under your wings carry you far from here."

The dragon turned to look at him and the light fizzled out into nothing. He nodded his goodbye and padded over to the red one to watch the doctor closely, who immediately became unnerved at the silent audience watching his every move as if he knew the procedure.

Matter of fact, Casca realized as he walked away, climbed on top of the lead carriage in the train, and allowed the cheetah to get the cows pulling it moving down the road on the way to the city to deliver their taxes, perhaps the dark dragon did know the procedure. After all, no one knows what the Gray Cult taught their disciples, besides that there is no worse crime in the world then letting an innocent suffer. They were just too extreme to be allowed into the city guard.

His gaze drifted to the plains on the left of the carriage, the wind making the grass move in waves, and dismissed the exiles from his mind. They weren't his problem anymore. Now he just had one uppity green dragon in a silver helm to deal with, and who would probably spend the rest of his long life in the only prison on the island. As all exiles do when they return to places they shouldn't. Maybe he would even be put to death for attacking a guard.

His eyelids drooped a little, and he warned the driver that he was going to fall asleep as a final thought slipped over his mind. Whatever happened in the end, the green dragon was never going to trouble him again.

 **Okay I am falling so far behind and it makes me so mad and uggghhhh. I'm sorry to all my readers, I just have so much Nothing going on during the summer that my brain doesn't WANT to think about stuff. Cause stuff is just too hard, you know? Anyways, I hope you all like this chapter and when we get back things will be complicated AF!**


	13. A Few Chance Meetings PT1

**It has come to my attention that my drive to write these stories has dropped exponentially, and it is having a seriously negative impact on my writing skills. For that, my loyal readers who have made it this far, I apologize profusely. I have lied to you and deceived you. This chapter, and for hopefully more to come, I am going full TRYHARD MODE, and I will ask you all a question. Should I go back through each and every one of my chapters and revise it to be more polished and more detailed? Or should I continue onwards, and save such an undertaking for the End of my story? Feel free to PM me or say in your Reviews.**

 **Please read this. I don't know what to do.**

Bricriu's unconscious body jostled about the creaking carriage with every bump they drove over on the way to the city, bouncing his head and paws against the wood floor. His helm was stored safely, tucked away in the only steel crate the guards had two carriages ahead, away from the food and provisions. They had no idea what it could do after all, only that the captain demanded it be secure.

Many found themselves laying on or in the carriages drawn by magic alone, resting their wings and paws, talking about their new prisoner and his strange fascination to get captured. A few tried to say that he knew exactly what he was doing, but others just reminded themselves and their friends that the dragon was so clearly starving, and could easily just be deranged from hunger. There was no need to fear him on their journey.

However, as they took their journey, Bricriu's dreams took him on a journey all his own. Without his helm, the pains of his body was becoming obvious, his stomach rumbling louder than the wooden wheels outside did. HIs paws were sore from walking, and his scales flaked from being in the sun for so long. In his strange dream, these pains were all too real, and yet something kept drawing him in deeper instead of rousing him from his slumber.

In his dreams he was leaping between islands of blue and purple crystals in a void of empty space. The weightlessness carried him from rock to shining rock with only the slightest amount of push from his wings being enough to send him towards the heavens.

He felt free. Free from his worries, free from his fears, but most of all free from the cold of the helm. He hadn't realized how much it had changed him when he wore it, even when he had chained up four other living breathing beings. It hadn't bothered him, it had just been a means to an end, but now he could feel it and it hurt. His chest, his head, his paws all ached painfully within this dream, and no matter how hard he focused to try and make himself lucid, to have complete control, he found a literal brick wall of porcelain white scales surrounding his own mind, excluding his subconscious. He didn't know How he knew what that wall looked or felt like, but it just felt right. So he didn't question it.

He leapt from island to island without a care, breathing deeply the chill in the air and smiling. Truly smiling for the first time in a long while. It felt so good and normal, having fun with his dragon body, the feelings it felt through the scales, the muscles that pulled and pushed with every flap of his wings. Maybe someday, when he's free from his troubles in the real world, he can go back to the temple and learn all he can about dragon anatomy.

There was a low hum, and suddenly Bricriu's preferred landing platform was flipped over to the rocky spire that made up its base. Eyes widening, he cries out in surprise and terror, managing to move himself enough to avoid being impaled. His claws attempted to dig into the stone, but only left jagged lines. Gravity had suddenly doubled as he clung to the rock, and before long he found himself hanging from the side. Screaming and scrambling, Bricriu's grip gave out, and he plummeted down towards the void, his screams echoing around him with no one to hear them.

It felt like he was falling forever into the darkness, tumbling over and over, wind whipping past his ear fins. The abyss consumed all light in all directions, and no matter where Bricriu looked, there was no light inside. This must be what death truly was. Endless tumbling through a black void.

Ground hit him suddenly, so suddenly he screamed from the shock of it, but there was no pain. He felt like he should have woken up from such a collision, but instead he still saw nothing all around him. He felt with his paws, feeling cold cobblestone beneath him, and slowly lifted himself up off the ground, straining his eyes to stare out into the darkness.

Nothing. Not in any direction. He was alone, and had no idea where to go. Fear grasped his heart in cold icy talons, and he felt tears beginning to sting his eyes. He had to be dead. It was the only option. There is no heaven or hell, there is nothing. He allowed his tears to flow freely as a sob racked his body. He didn't want to be alone forever.

"Help!" He called in desperation, yet he closed his eyes and did not bother to open them. He knew that nothing was going to save him. Still he shouted, giving some glimmer of hope to the bleak world he was stuck in. "I don't want to die here!" All memory of this being a dream faded from his mind swiftly, and he truly believed he was dead already.

With a blinding flash, the world became filled with vibrant and healthy blue light. Bricriu screamed again, covering himself with his wings, too scared to look in case it was some great demon standing there. The light felt cold on his scales, and he knew that he was in his own icy hell, just like he had always known hell to truly be like.

A strange smell filled his nostrils. It coiled around his mind, reminding him of something far too comfortable to be anywhere near the devil's home. Slowly, allowing his eyes to adjust to the light that had suddenly filled his world, he lowered his wings and opened his eyes wide at the sight of the massive expanse of knowledge before him.

Shelves upon countless shelves towered before him in tightly packed rows, each one packed to nearly spilling over with scrolls and parchments and books. It smelled ancient, more old and decrepit then any library Bricriu had ever seen back home. The blue light made it difficult to read any of the titles, as the letters seemed to swim and dance before his eyes in unnatural ways. He felt queasy and managed to force his gaze away from one shelf, only to see nothing but more shelves in all directions behind him, except a large swirling pool that was the source of the strange blue light sitting in the center. Looking into it, he saw nothing but a vortex going down into the ground with no sound at all. The entire place was void of noise.

His head swimming, he groaned and closed his eyes tightly, counting to ten slowly and swallowing to keep from vomiting up nothing but stomach acid. He hadn't eaten in at least three days, and it was only now beginning to become very painful. The dizziness from the swirling words and water all around him only added to his sudden nausea.

Just as he feels he has calmed down enough to open his eyes, the sound of someone clearing their throat forces him to throw them open and gasp in surprise.

Standing just across from him, on the other side of the glowing pool, sat a dragon with scales that glowed blue in the light, mirroring that swirling pattern almost perfectly. He towered over the green dragon, and if the guardians were here Bricriu's sure that he'd be taller than them too. His eyes were void of pupils, rolled back into his skull, and yet his gaze never seemed to leave Bricriu's even as the younger dragon lifted his head up to stare.

Four horns protruded from his cheeks, and two more sat atop his head, with fins just below them. Further down his neck, a shining gold and black pair of pads sat comfortably around his shoulders. And hanging between them, on a thread so old it looked like it was begging to snap any second, sat a crystal that shimmered in its center.

Suddenly the dragon's eyes roll forward, and Bricriu finds his gaze met by deep pools of blue. Filled with wisdom that spoke of eons, with depth that boomed and echoed loudly around him, the dragon narrowed his eyes and spoke. "You, little dragon, are quite a danger." He slowly sat back on the floor, while Bricriu kept his stance ready to break into a sprint in the opposite direction. "Though you're also in quite a bit of danger as well."

"What do you mean?" Bricriu whimpers softly, looking around quickly for anything in sight that could help him, but there was nothing he could possibly use as a weapon unless he planned to throw a book at the seemingly ancient dragon. He could run, but the shelves behind him were linear and offered no cover, and the dragon most likely knew his home far better than Bricriu did, and could easily catch up if Bricriu took a wrong turn. "Are you going to kill me?!"

Sighing, the blue dragon shakes his head. "Unfortunately, no." He brings his snout down to stare into the pool beneath him, away from Bricriu's aghast look of fear plastered across his face. "My duty, as the Chronicler, has always been to document and never to interfere. Even this interaction with you may be considered a breach of protocol by my ancestors, but they have done the same in the past with dragons that were special just like you. I hope they can forgive me for the transgression." He seems to get lost in thought then, staring deep into the swirling pool.

Bricriu doesn't hesitate to try and take a few tentative steps back, but the dragon continues on in a wistful tone. "I'm not going to kill you, Bricriu. Only ask that you listen to me, please. What you do in the future threatens all of the Dragon Realms." Bricriu turned quickly, paws moving across the floor quickly as he ran from the strange, old, obviously crazy blue dragon. "You cannot put the helm back on."

He skidded to a stop carefully across the tile floor and turned to look back. The Chronicler's eyes were on him now, and he stared back into them. He thought about the helm once again, and shuddered at the cruelty it had enforced into him. "I wasn't planning on it." He says softly.

"I know you weren't." The Chronicler responds, eyes unblinking as he stares at Bricriu. "This place is free of from any corruption, meaning that as long as you remain here you will not feel the pull of its corruption. When you awaken, your thoughts will change, but you must remain strong." Bricriu hears the grating sound of claws scraping against the tile from beneath the large male. "I know it will be hard for you, but you cannot give in."

The dragon looks back down at the swirling vortex, and Bricriu doesn't try to run, instead choosing to step closer and look within. He sees nothing but blue tinted water, reflecting the words floating around above them and both their faces in between bubbles and frothing rapids. "When you awaken from this dream, you must not submit. You must not, or countless will suffer."

"What are you talking about?" Bricriu asks, his mind racing with ideas, mostly about what could possibly go wrong if he wore the helm again. Would he go insane? Or something even worse? "How do you know all of this? And how can I have the entire world on my shoulders?"

"I know it is much to deal with." The Chronicler muttered. "I have seen many dragons come and go who had the same fate as you. And like them, you can be braver than you have ever dreamed of being. Put faith in yourself, and you will find yourself home."

The swirling pool erupted into the air, and Bricriu leaped back in a cascade of blue water with a cry of shock. Within it, he sees something familiar to his real home. A very human skyscraper towers above him in the tornado of water, with a large red cross at the top. It was a hospital. Bricriu watched, wide eyed, as the building shifted and grew bigger and bigger, and before he knew it the tornado of water had collapsed over him, dragging him screaming into the pool of water, forcing its way down his throat and cutting off oxygen. Within seconds, he was unconscious.

 **This is only part 1. I wanted to get this chapter out as soon as I believed it ready for you all to read the author's note at the top. I do want all your advice, as I want this story to be as interesting and entertaining for you all as possible. I want this story to be interesting, and I can't afford to NOT TRY anymore. I have you all to thank for this inspiration, and this drive, and I hope you enjoyed this extra detailed, extra short, special chapter!**


	14. A Few Chance Meetings PT2

**Alright, I'm going to continue in this tryhard format. Hopefully it doesn't to affect my writing times any more than it's already crazy / School + Gaming + Depression makes this pretty hard, but I hope I get this next chapter out before November's end!**

Bricriu awoke suddenly, letting out a loud cry of fear before gasping for breath. He felt as if his lungs were going to explode out of his chest, and his scales were unbelievably cold. Looking down at his body, there was a sheen of water for only a moment before it vanished before his eyes, leaving him to slowly warm up on the dark stone floor.

Surveying his surroundings, Bricriu whimpered in fear. The room was bare, and smelled worse than anywhere he had ever been in his entire life. A horrid mix of blood, rotten meat, and other bodily secretions. A single door with a window of metal bars was the only source of light into the room, and somewhere in the shadows rats or some other vermin scrambles from one hole in the wall to the other. The light flickered and moved, bathing its orange light in a dancing pattern.

A prison, then. He was in a prison, somewhere underground. His fear turned to curiosity rather quickly, and he stood as silently as he could on his paws. Walking on his heels, desperate to avoid the scraping of his claws across the stones, Bricriu walked to the window and attempted to peek out, placing his paws against the door and straining his neck up to look out. A brief thought as to why he wasn't as tall as the guardians flashed through his mind, but he pushed it aside to survey the outside.

A single dragon in the guard's armor slept peacefully on the ground. Breathing softly through his nostrils with gentle puffs of smoke, showing his fire dragon blood. "Hey!" Bricriu called out, startling the dragon awake and to his feet. He stands straight up, both forepaws together, puffing his chest out.

Bricriu smiles a little at the jump to attention, but the smile vanishes as the dragon turns to him, annoyance written on his face. "What do you want, Bricriu?" He walks over to the door, metal armor clicking softly with every step.

Blinking slightly in surprise that the guard knows his name, Bricriu asks quickly where he is, to which the guard laughs. "You're in prison, boy. And just as well, for that nasty poison you tried to throw in Captain Casca's face." The guard then turns and looks down the halls, past the other empty cells, and then turns back with a small half smile across his snout. "I'll go get the guardian, then."

Bricriu's tail sways slowly behind him as he squeaks out. "The Guardians are here?!" The soft clicking of the dragon's claws across the stone is the only response he is given, and his mind races with thoughts. What he's going to say, what he's going to do. He begins to pace within the walls of his cell, thinking heavily about each of the guardians.

God how he wished he had his helmet.

His paws froze on the stone, gripping it in his claws. His Helm. Where did they take it? Heart pounding, he goes back to the door, looking up and down the hallway, desperately straining his ears for a sound that he wasn't even sure he'd hear.

Nothing. Silence for minutes. His own heartbeat was the only thing he could sense in the heat of the moment, and he whimpered fearfully, stepping away from the doorway and laying down on the cold ground. His despair was so deep, he didn't even notice when a sound did start to rise from the hallway. The sound of many paws walking down the hallway from the stairs, many clinking from every step.

Bricriu only responded once the key to his cell door was being turned into the lock with a satisfying click, then the door was thrown open and two guards rushed in, pouncing upon him and holding him down long enough to get those damn purple chains around his ankles again. Putting up no fight whatsoever, Bricriu grunted in pain as one of them hit him over the head anyways just in case, then looked back at the doorway as Led entered the room.

The Ice Guardian dragon watched Bricriu stand slowly, his eyes holding a cold lack of emotions. "So, Bricriu, you returned to the capital. After banishment." The dragon guards stay on either side of the guardian, growling to punctuate each sentence like a pack of hungry dogs waiting for their master's order to pounce on the foe.

"Yes, but I-" Bricriu begins, but Led snarls at him with an icy puff of rage escaping from his nostrils. Whimpering and crouching out of fear, Bricriu shuts his mouth and stares at Led with wide eyes, fighting the urge to apologize with every fiber of his being.

"As an exile, you have no rights, no home, no life. And yet you chose to come here once again." Led broke eye contact with the emerald dragon to look around the cell, as if examining it, though Bricriu could hardly guess what he was searching for. "Where people loathe your name. Where all guards are meant to keep an eye out for you. Where you will be executed for your crimes against the Realm."

Bricriu's heart stopped, his scales getting a shade lighter as he paled. A screech of terror tore through his throat, faster than he could stop it. "EXECUTED!?" Led responds to the slight with a swift backhand paw slap across his prisoner's cheek.

"In one month's time, yes." Led continues on coldly, the air in the cell beginning to drop in temperature as he speaks, to the point where the other dragons begin to shiver from the chill. Bricriu shivers more from fear and despair than anything his scales feel. "It is the punishment for those who do not abide by the laws of the Exiled. You were meant to disappear from society peacefully. You chose to come back, and so you will be made to disappear by force."

Staring down at Bricriu's wide eyes, Led's mouth twitches up into a smirk of pride. "You know, dragons are wild creatures. Many exiles find the enjoy being out there, in the wilds. I'm sure you would have fit in fine as some other dragon's bitch, had you just been patient enough." He leaves his mouth hanging open briefly, but his eyes dart to the guards beside him and he seems to decide that whatever else he was planning to say is better left unsaid. He clears his throat and continues. "You will remain down here for the month. You will be given food and water and a place to deposit your wastes, but nothing more. Understood?"

Bricriu can only stare in disbelief at the Ice Guardian, with occasional glances towards the other guards for some sort of help, anything. Instead, they only bare their teeth and whip their tails as he looks to them, as if he still poses a threat. Led grumbles, repeating the last word, but Bricriu's mind is scrambling to register anything besides his existential despair. Rolling his eyes slightly, Led turns carefully and walks back out of the cell, with the two guards following close behind.

"W-Wait." Bricriu manages to squeak out, and one guard pauses before leaving, turning to look over his shoulder and beneath his massive wings to look at the pitiful dragon. "Where's my h-" Bricriu stops himself just barely in time.

If he chooses to ask the dragon where his helm is, it may arouse suspicion. They could move his helm somewhere more secure, further away from him, in some acid proof safe. If they find out what it can do, the powers it holds, they could seek to destroy it, and he would be left without it, without its soothing feelings, its reassuring shimmer in the moonlight and its blinding beauty in the day. He felt exposed, powerless, worthless.

What powers did it have over him? He knew it made him colder, both in the literal and figurative sense. He had felt more at ease, more confident when he had the helmet on the outside, but he had even felt more of a chill at night then he ever had in Led's presence. As if his entire body was consumed by a blizzard only he felt, and yet he never shivered or truly shook from it alone.

It made him strong against the emotions that held him back. Or did they? Was love and caring and compassion a strength or a weakness? The helm suppressed them, and without that suppression he never would have made it this far, but what was the cost?

Was it addictive? Was it consuming him? Was the helm cursed?

His vision focused once more, out of the dreamland he dragged himself into, and found himself face to face with the closed door of his cell. The guard, apparently, had left him to his own thoughts. He growled at himself, wondering how long he had been standing there like an idiot, when a loud yawn rose from down the hall.

Leaving his thoughts on the helm behind, Bricriu moves to the door and looks out, calling nervously. "Hello?"

"Ah, so you're finally awake." A voice echoes down the hall, deep and taunting. "Forgive me for being asleep so long. I had strived to keep myself awake to be there for you, only to pass out myself." Bricriu can hear the dragon stretching, bones cracking and popping back into place.

"Are you another prisoner?" Bricriu asked tentatively, looking back and forth down the hallway, searching for the source of the voice, seeing no one in the hallways.

A low, smug laugh. "No, I'm a ghost. A specter, a figment of your imagination." As the source spoke, it stepped closer to the door to its own cell, and Bricriu could see the face of a male dragon through the window. His scales were gray, but not old, if the youth that was held in his eyes was any indication. "What have you been accused of to get here, hm?"

Bricriu blinked a little at the strange wording, then understood. Accused, to say he hadn't committed any crimes. A way to keep from offending a fellow inmate. "I was exiled, and decided to come back. And now, I'm apparently going to be executed for it." His eyes burn with tears, but he blinks multiple times to get it to fade and forces himself to focus on something else. Anything. "What about you?"

If the dragon noticed the shakiness in his voice, he didn't say anything. He simply said, "I seem to be the victim of prejudice." And then stepped away, frowning to himself. After a moment, he calls. "What's your name?"

"Bricriu. Yours?" Bricriu watches the dragon's eyes, the golden, snake-like irises as the inmate looked to his own, normal eyes. Something seemed to flicker, a shade of doubt or fear, because the dragon opened his mouth and then shut it, then did it again. As if thinking. "You don't have to tell me, it's okay." Bricriu says quickly, hoping he didn't offend what could possibly his only friend in his final days.

The dragon nodded in silent thanks. "So... how do you plan on getting out of here?" He asked softly. Apparently simply because he was doomed to be executed, it meant Bricriu wanted to find a way to escape.

Of course he did give it some thought.

Bricriu hummed softly as the wheels in his brain began to turn, but they all focused on one thing. Getting back his helmet. It was only through it that he stood any chance of escape, and he told the dragon such.

The dragon blinked, then chuckled softly. "A helmet is all you need to get out of here?"

"Yep." Bricriu responds, and then looks out towards his prison mate. "Do you know where it could be?"

He rolled his eyes, amused by the request. "Yeah, it's in lockup. And how exactly do you plan to get it back."

Without the reassurance of the helmet, Bricriu didn't know. But he would try. Without a shadow of doubt in his mind, he would try. No matter how hard it was.

He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, then opened them once more and told his plan to the dragon. The dragon was unimpressed, as he did not believe in the helm's importance, but Bricriu knew. That's all it would take.

 **Look. I'll be honest with you all, and I hope you don't hate me for it. I am not at all interested in writing this story. Knowing how it's going to end, recognizing that Bricriu's story is not a happy one, it's really difficult to write about him. I know many people have followed this story, and I know that I only really have readers because of this story, so I am going to keep going. But upload schedules are never going to get better, and there is a high chance I might drop this story all together, no matter how angry it makes Bricriu in my head.**

 **If you love this story, I hope this is a fair warning, and again I am so sorry. I just feel like a terrible person for making you all wait so long for short as hell chapters simply because I don't have the time or drive to work on them.**


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